Sasuke's Basketball
by XxUzumaki45xX
Summary: While living with his brother Itachi, Sasuke ends up joining the Seirin basketball club due to it being the closest school. In hopes of finding a challenge that will push him to his limits, Sasuke joins Kagami and Kuroko on their journey to defeat the Generation of Miracles. Warning: contains foul language and future mature scenes. Sharingan Sasuke/OP Sasuke
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** **All content related to Naruto and Kuroko no Basket do not belong to me. All ideas belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Tadatoshi Fujimaki respectively.**

 **Enjoy the Story!**

* * *

Chapter 1

Seirin's Basketball club

* * *

"Why are we moving back to Japan again?" a young, but deep voice asked in annoyance.

Sighing, another voice responded evenly. "Sasuke, this is the last time I am going to say this. I was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It just so happens that I have to move back home in order to get this job. Need I remind you that I am supporting the both of us?"

"Tch, you don't need to remind me. I told you I had an interview with that Ramen restaurant, but this happened."

Sasuke was helping his older brother Itachi pack their belongings to load into their van. He and his brother lived on the West Coast of America, specifically in the state of California. His brother majored in Law Enforcement and got a job with the local police department and slowly moved his way up to the FBI. He was offered a better position; however, it was not to be with the United States but with Japan. Of course, Sasuke was not on board with moving back to Japan, but Itachi insisted that if he wanted he could stay by himself. So Sasuke eventually gave in and decided to go with his brother against his will of course.

"We better hurry. Our flight leaves in two hours, and it'll take an hour-and-a-half to get to the airport," Itachi said.

"I got it, I got it."

Sighing, Itachi started loading the rest of the boxes into the van while Sasuke was going through the last bit of his belongings.

Digging through one last box, Sasuke was hit with a wave of nostalgia as he picked up a basketball that his hyperactive friend once gave him as a birthday present.

' _Hm, the knucklehead didn't even bother to say goodbye...how unlike him.'_

He put the ball back inside and closed the box to take to the van.

"Sasuke, let's go!" Itachi shouted from outside the house.

"I'm coming already!" Sasuke responded.

Taking one last look at his now empty room, Sasuke switched the light off and hurried out to the driveway.

* * *

"Well, welcome to your new home Sasuke. I hope you know this is for our sakes. Besides, at least school starts tomorrow instead of today, right?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "Was that supposed to make me feel better?" he asked with a chuckle.

Giving him an eye smile and chuckling sheepishly, Itachi continued up the stairs to the apartment. "I suppose not."

Sasuke was taking in his surroundings of a place he called home for only a small part of his life. His mom and dad had died when he was four in a car accident leaving his older brother to look after the both of them. Basketball was all that he had left from his mother, so he cherished the sport very much. His dad also happened to be one of the best basketball players in Japan's National League to boot, but that was short-lived. Itachi had gotten in touch with his cousin Shisui who was living in California at the time and he asked for his help. So, they moved and lived in America for ten years. Until Itachi had gotten a job offering a year later which brings us to the present.

"Well, once we've unpacked everything, what do you say we get a bite to eat?"

Sasuke nodded with a grateful smile. "Sounds good, and are we having dango afterwards?"

"Of course-"

"Let's go!" Sasuke shouted startling Itachi.

* * *

"Sasuke, wake up! It's time for school!" Itachi said.

Shaking his little brother awake, Itachi was relieved to see Sasuke's eyes flutter open with little resistance.

"What time is it?"

"It's 7:00, and you're lucky that your new school is only a few blocks away. Now, I'm heading off to the Orientation, and I packed your bento for today. Have a good day at school, alright?"

As Sasuke was getting up and listening to Itachi, he just gave a nod in response before hopping in the shower.

Sasuke barely made it to the front entrance of the school, but was surprised to see a crowded courtyard instead of an empty one.

Slowing to a walk, he looked to the side. _'Seirin Private High School, huh?'_

As he got closer, he noticed that there were a bunch of clubs pestering the Freshman to join them. Rugby, baseball, to shogi, and even the swimming team were relentless in their hunt for potential new members to keep their club alive.

' _How ridiculous...and annoying,'_ he thought when he heard something that piqued his interest.

"How'd you like to join the Basketball club?"

"Koganei, you c-"

Tuning out the rest, Sasuke made his way toward the direction he heard that person. If there was one thing besides sweets that revved Sasuke up, it was Basketball. He can't remember a day since he laid his hands on a ball that he didn't play or practice.

"Excuse me, is this the Basketball club?" Sasuke asked completely ignoring the other guy Koganei was talking to.

Izuki walked up and handed Sasuke a flyer. "You interested in joining?"

Sasuke nodded.

Mitobe, Izuki, and Koganei all smiled in triumph as they pointed in the direction of Hyuuga and the Coach. "You can sign up over at our table. Tryouts are at 16:00 pm today after school."

"Thanks," Sasuke said leaving just as a tall, redhead made his way to Koganei.

On his way to the table he could see in the distance, Sasuke caught sight of a mop of blue hair in the crowd and was not liking the mysterious vibe he was starting to get.

That thought was pushed to the back of his mind as he approached the table. "Is this where I sign up for the basketball club?"

Rika perked up when she heard Sasuke's question. "Yes! Just sign your name here on this clipboard."

Sasuke walked forward and took a seat as he picked up the pen and began writing his name down.

"So, have you ever played basketball before?" she asked as she handed him a cup of water.

While he was about to finish writing his name down, Sasuke nodded and accepted the cup of water. "I started playing ever since I knew how to walk and talk."

"That's good to hear. What position did you play?" Rika asked.

"Point Guard."

"Oh, splendid! Can't wait to see you at tryouts!"

Sasuke nodded in response once again and continued on his way to his first class.

Hyuuga looked at the sheet Sasuke filled out. "So, his only goal is to go against strong opponents, and win every single championship. He sounds highly competitive to me."

He turned to Riko who had a very serious look on her face. "What is it?"

Shaking her head, she added Sasuke's papers to the stack. "It's nothing."

Just then, a shadow loomed over her and she was surprised to see Koganei with…

* * *

One thing Sasuke could never get away from were fangirls. It happened very often in America due to his exotic heritage, but it still was a problem here in Japan. He couldn't even walk to gym in peace due to a few girls stalking but he easily lost them. Now, it wasn't outrageous as many of the girls actually had self-respect, but no one can blame them for stealing a few glances here and there.

Heaving his millionth sigh, Sasuke stepped foot into Seirin's gym.

He noticed about eleven other players including what looked to be a guy way taller than the rest, but he couldn't help but remember the kid with blue hair. _'What's his deal?'_

No one noticed him as he walked up to the line he was guessing he should've been a part of. He wasn't surprised when no one reacted to his presence since it happened way too often over in California.

Rika looked disappointed. "It seems we're missing Kuroko and Sasuke. I sure was hoping to get someone to fill in the Point Guard position, but oh well. Ever-"

Sasuke raised his his hand as both he and Kuroko stepped up in front of the unaware coach.

"I'm here," Sasuke said.

"I'm Kuroko," Kuroko said.

Rika blanched with wide-eyes when she reacted by screaming so loud she effectively hurt everyone's eardrums.

Once he recovered, Hyuuga stepped forward as he could not believe his eyes. "What? How long have you two been there?"

Kuroko's and Sasuke's response differed, so they just assumed Sasuke was light on his feet getting inside, but Riko was worried about the other boy's answer. The fact that he was there the entire time.

"What? So this guy was part of the Generation of Miracles? He couldn't have been a regular, could he?" Koganei asked as he and everyone else judged Kuroko shamelessly based on his weak stature.

"Of course not. Right, Kuroko?" Hyuga asked.

"I played in games," Kuroko responded.

It took awhile to sink in for the regulars of the Seirin basketball club. "What?!"

Both Sasuke and Kagami were thinking the same thing. _'Generation of Miracles?'_

"W-Well, take of your shirts!" she ordered.

They both complied as everyone waited to see what the coach would say.

She first had a look of disappointment when she saw Kuroko, but what she couldn't believe was Sasuke's stats.

' _I can't get a reading. It's like he doesn't even exist!'_ she thought.

Question marks occupied each reading, but she was confused when she could finally make out a single stat. To say she was flabbergasted would be an understatement. She started rubbing her eyes when she looked again and could not believe what she was seeing is real.

What she was now looking at was an odd stat that pertained to his...court vision? It was a line connected to his eyes, but what surprised her was that it was at about 9,000.

' _What is going on?'_ she thought before she nodded slowly as everyone put their shirts back on. _'It's no wonder he played as Point Guard in middle school, but not even Izuki comes close to his number even with his Eagle Eye active.'_

She was too busy staring off into space that she forgot all about practice. "Um, Coach?"

Riko blinked before she refocused. "Sorry about that! We'll be starting practice now!" she said and then blew her whistle.

The first-years didn't really get to play too much, but instead watched the second years play a few practice games after they did a basic endurance and strength training. They then finished it off with drills to see where everyone was at with their fundamentals.

"Good work!" Riko said.

* * *

"So, how was school?" Itachi asked as he was filling out paperwork while Sasuke was preparing dinner. It was the one thing besides a job and cleaning up that Sasuke could actually help with.

"It was okay, I guess. School is a lot different here, and if I had to say even more challenging than America. How was orientation?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi let the silence continue as he was focused on a particular part of his questionnaire. "Well, it went seemingly well. I won't be home for a few days as I am already being deployed on a case that's practically on the other side of Japan. So, I'll leave enough money to get you through a month just in case of emergencies."

Sasuke nodded. "Thanks," he said as he placed a bowl of rice on the table with two plates of fried Tilapia.

"Thanks Sasuke," his older brother said as he cleared the table of his paperwork.

"Oh yeah. How were basketball tryouts?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke's eyebrow rose as he gave his older brother a weird look. "How did you even know about that?"

Itachi shrugged. "You basically live basketball Sasuke. As to how I know there were tryouts, I was the one who enrolled you, so I asked ahead of time about the whole deal with the basketball club."

"Of course you did."

The two of them ate in silence for the rest of the evening.

Once Sasuke was cleaning up the dishes he put his shoes on and grabbed his basketball. "I'll be heading out for some practice."

Finishing his third stick of dango, Sasuke began to make his way to a court he passed by in the van before he moved in. _'He did say a month's worth, so there should be no harm in sweets here and there...and maybe everyday…'_ Sasuke thought irresponsibly spending the money his brother earned. However, Sasuke was no freeloader as he had been able to get small jobs here and there to pay his brother back when he offered money like this. It was something he was used to.

When he approached the caged court, he saw a silhouette of a short kid with spiky hair being held by his collar by someone almost twice as tall as him with the same styled hair. As he got closer, he finally was able to make out their appearance.

' _Isn't that…?'_

"I wanted to see how good you are myself," Kuroko said.

Kagami gained a stupid look before he facepalmed as he released Kuroko.

"Um…"

"Enough. I'm not interested in the weak."

Kuroko was following Kagami walk toward his bag and jacket in silence. Taking the full brunt of the insult.

"Yo," Sasuke said startling Kagami as he had just passed by him unknowingly

Kagami stopped walking for two seconds before he looked to the side and screamed similar to how Riko did earlier today. "What the hell?! Not again!"

Kuroko was wide-eyed. "I...didn't see him walk past me?"

Kagami calmed down after he realized who he was looking at. "Hey, you're that guy from tryouts. Sorry, but after going against that guy, I'm not feeling like playing another game," he said as he waved goodbye and grabbed his things.

He turned to Kuroko. "Let me tell you one last thing. You should quit basketball. No matter how hard you try to cover it up with words like "effort", raw talent is a fact of life. You have no talent for basketball."

Kuroko was too stunned by Sasuke's appearance to say anything but eventually collected himself enough to retort. "I don't accept that."

"What?" Kagami asked as he turned to look at Kuroko.

"First of all, I love basketball. And also, I don't share your opinion. I don't care who's strong or who's weak."

"What did you say?"

Sasuke decided to chime in. "He said he loves basketball, and that he doesn't care who's strong or who's weak."

Kagami gained a tick mark. "I know what he said idiot!"

Kuroko continued his explanation. "I'm not like you. I'm a shadow."

Kagami just gave him a straight-face before he cocked his head. "Is that some kind of cult?"

Sasuke shook his head. _'And he called me an idiot. He's talking about his playstyle. Though, I have an idea of what it might be.'_

"Anyway, if you really wanna embarrass yourself then be my guest. I was only giving you my honest opinion. Later," Kagami said as he strolled out of the court.

Sasuke decided that since that little altercation was over with, he would get some practice in when he noticed the blue-haired kid staring at him. "What?"

"You're like me."

"Care to elaborate on what you mean?"

"You have no presence. If I had to say, it's like you have even less than no presence if that's even possible. I mean, you are almost invisible to me. How?"

Sasuke's suspicions were proven correct. _'I knew it,'_ he thought before he decided to give Kuroko a hint.

"What makes you have no presence is sorta what makes me have no presence except it's the reverse. I'm just too strong that no one even realizes it since they have never come across my level of skill. I'm not boasting, because that's the only way I can explain it. Whereas you're so weak that it has the same sort of effect. You know about misdirection don't you?"

Kuroko was once again thrown off his rhythm when he heard the one thing he had become proficient in. "I'm guessing you use it?"

Sasuke nodded. "Although, I never really had to use it when passing since I trusted my teammates to get past the defender. In Japan, it's a little different since the level of play here really does depend on who is on the team. So, why don't you show me what you've got?" Sasuke said as he passed the ball to Kuroko who caught it and for once had a serious look on his face.

Not even five minutes, and Kuroko was on the ground breathing hard. "So...this...is what it's like...to play against me, huh?"

"Well, it would be more interesting if we were both on different teams, but fortunately we can combine our power instead. Also, don't worry about what that big oaf said. He'll soon come to acknowledge your basketball," Sasuke said as he thought back to a certain blonde.

"I know. Well Sasuke-san, I'll be heading home. See you tomorrow morning!"

"Sure," Sasuke said as once Kuroko left he gained a serious expression as he decided to practice with everything he had.

* * *

"What? A mini-game? You mean we're going to be actually be playing?" one newbie asked.

"I can't believe we're playing the upperclassmen already. Do you remember their record from last year they told us about during our first meeting? They went to finals in just their first year," another explained.

"Are you serious? That's not normal."

Kagami, who couldn't help but listen, just chuckled right before he dismissed the statement haughtily. "There's nothing to be afraid of. It's always better to have stronger opponent's than weaker ones. Let's go," he said as he walked up to the half court circle where he would be the one jumping for the ball."

Riko was smiling her socks off as she looked at the rookies and was eager to see what they would bring to the court. _'Let's see exactly what these rookies can do.'_

She held the ball in front of Kagami and Mitobe before blowing her whistle and throwing the ball up into the air.

Kagami won the battle and tapped the ball to one of the first-years who caught it with his right hand and dribbled up to the three point line where he was forced back by three defenders.

He threw the ball up and over their heads aiming for Kagami who received the pass.

He immediately followed up with a simple one-handed forward-facing dunk, but the force behind the dunk was clearly outrageous.

"Woah, seeing a dunk in real life is definitely more exciting than on television!"

"Amazing!"

' _He's better than I expected,'_ Riko thought incredulously. _'Such destructive force for such unpolished, intuitive play,'_ she continued as Kagami was still hanging onto the rim.

Hyuuga was wiping away the sweat that oddly already formed on his head with a smirk. "This is unbelievable."

Mitobe passed the ball to Izuki who was on the left-hand side of the court. Izuki dribbled past half court before bounce passing it to Hyuuga, but it was stolen by none other than Kagami who raced back to the hoop and executed another dunk. After a few more points scored back to back, Kagami dunked once again bringing the score to eleven to eight with the first years taking the lead.

"I can't believe the first years are this strong," Hyuuga said with a frown.

"Kagami's doing it all by himself," Koganei said as he was breathing heavily on with his hands resting on his knees.

Kagami was starting to get irritated with Kuroko as another steal was given to the second years courtesy of Kuroko's shit pass as Kagami would put it.

Mitobe was about to dunk it when Kagami came out of nowhere and blocked it where it went out of bounds.

"Time to put them in their place," Hyuuga said.

"It's on," Izuki agreed.

Kagami was being triple-teamed by Izuki, Koganei, and Hyuuga. He was struggling just to make sure the ball was still in his hands.

He was starting to get irritated when he passed the ball to the first year that sorta looked like Koganei. When he received the ball, he was about to drive forward when it was Hyuuga and Izuki on him.

"Woah, that was way too fast," he said before he tried to pass the ball when one of them tipped it and it was about to fall into the hands of Mitobe when all of a sudden it curved and went straight back to Kagami.

"What?!" Hyuuga shouted flabbergasted as he caught sight of one of the other first years, Sasuke. _'I completely forgot he was playing!'_

For the first time, Kuroko had seen someone else capable of using misdirection other than him. As he passed Sasuke, he heard a few words that fired him up.

"I'll give the second half to you."

Kuroko smiled as he couldn't help but go along with the plan.

The second years were completely at the mercy of the first years with their score nearly reaching double digits now due to Sasuke's passes.

"Every time I think I have him, he steals the ball again!" Izuki said.

Riko was not only taken aback by the flashy passes, but the fact that her suspicions about Kuroko were falling apart. She hadn't noticed Kuroko the entire first quarter, but then she hadn't even seen Sasuke even enter the building.

Hyuuga was setting up for a three when Sasuke stole the ball from behind him and immediately did a back change to his left to avoid Izuki's steal. _'How did he even know I was there?!'_ Izuki thought frustratedly.

Sasuke continued to dribble when he stopped and shot the ball just in between the half court and three point line. He turned around to switch to defense as the ball went in hitting nothing but net.

"Woah! That was so far out!" one of the first years said.

"Wait, who shot the ball?" another asked.

The score was now 32 to 23 with the first years taking the lead with three minutes left in the second quarter.

"That's not even fair," Koganei said as he was dribbled past the bald first year only to encounter Kagami and was forced to pass when, of course, Sasuke stole the ball.

He wasn't surprised when he was already being defended by Izuki who's pupil's seem to have...dilated?

"You won't be going anywhere!" he said.

"Not with you in my way I'm not" Sasuke said as he dribbled the ball from his right to his left, but faked and did a crossover to the right as soon as Izuki reacted to his fake which left him ankle-broken and on the ground.

"What?!" Izuki said as he wondered how he was even on the ground.

"An ankle-break?!" one of the first years said as Sasuke continued to the basket and did a lay up.

"Seriously? Who are we dealing with here? His reactions were way too fast!" Hyuuga exclaimed.

Kuroko had a grim expression on his face when he saw the way Sasuke broke his ankles. _'Was that…? That was similar to…'_ he thought in confusion before the time had run out and it was time for the second half.

Sasuke jogged past a Kagami who was giving him an challenging smirk. "I won't lose to you!" Kagami shouted in his face.

Sasuke just gave him a quizzical look. "We're on the same team idiot," Sasuke told him in a deadpan voice.

Kagami seemed to have generate flames out of nowhere as his smirk turned into a heated glare. "Y-You Bastard…"

Kuroko then walked up behind Kagami and used both his knees to hit Kagami's. "Please Calm down," Kuroko said.

Kagami had lost what bit of sanity he had left at the moment. "I'm going to destroy you!" he yelled as he threw swing after swing toward Kuroko who swiftly dodged each one.

"Wait, where was Kuroko this whole time?" Hyuuga asked. "Why does everybody keep disappearing?"

Riko shook her head to clear her thoughts. "You've got to be kidding me," she said with a half-smile.

[ **Kuroko OST- Gyakushuu** ]

"Excuse me, could you pass me the ball?" Kuroko asked as he was flicking his wrist to prepare it for his passes.

Giving Kuroko a hysterical look, the rookie just continued dribbling until he stopped and held the ball with both hands at this chest. _'What can you do with ball once you get it? Just don't let them get the ball.'_

He passed the ball to Kuroko who was surveying the court before he touched it and instantly passed it to the Furihata who then followed up with a lay up.

Hyuga threw his hands in the air with frustration. "Not again! What happened this time?"

' _The second years are trying their best, but they still can't do a thing against Sasuke and Kuroko's passes. How are they even doing that in the first place?'_

Passing the ball in, the second years were dribbling past half court when Kagami stepped in front of Izuki.

He responded with a behind-the-back pass to his right with Hyuuga on the receiving end. Once Hyuuga caught the ball he set up for a three which made it in clean. "Alright! Let's get another one!" Hyuuga shouted.

"Right!" yelled all the second years.

When the Kawahara was pivoting against Koganei he saw Kuroko putting his hands up to which he passed the ball immediately.

Same thing happened when Kuroko touched the ball for an instant and passed it within a split second.

Fukuda was surprised that he received the ball out of nowhere, but decided to just roll with it for now.

"Go for it! Shoot!" Kagami said with a smirk as he was starting to realize Kuroko may have it in him after all.

After that shot, the second years returned to offense as Mitobe passed the ball in. Once Izuki was dribbling he used his eagle eye to determine the best course of action. He found an opening when he did a chest pass all the way to Koganei who performed a lay up with it going in.

Answering back immediately, Sasuke threw the ball down toward Hyuga who was about to get the ball when Kuroko came in and tapped the ball to Kawahara. "What the?" he said as he went in for another shot.

Eventually, Kuroko started getting in steals which went straight to passes to his teammates.

He stole one last ball before he started dribbling toward the other side of the court with everyone in panic as they were chasing him. However, when he went to shoot for a lay up, he missed it by shooting it to short.

"That's why I hate the weak!" Kagami shouted once again as he dunked the ball that bounced off the rim. "You have to make the shot, dumbass."

Kuroko ducked but was smiling at Kagami instead of taking his statement to heart.

' _Now I understand why he played in games. He was using misdirection along with his lack of presence to make passes go through. He's the phantom sixth player of the Generation of Miracles!'_ Riko thought as she then turned her attention to Sasuke.

' _However, Sasuke Uchiha has shown the most promise today. He not only has the same style as Kuroko, but he has what Kuroko lacks and that is the fundamentals. That's proven by how he was able to put Izuki on the floor.'_

The game ended with the score being 48 for the first years and 33 for the second years.

* * *

"Hello," Kuroko said as he was sippin on his milkshake.

"Stop doing that!" Kagami shouted as he was pounding his chest harshly.

"What did I do?" Kuroko asked.

"Nevermind, anyway you should leave before someone sees us and thinks we're buddies or something."

Kuroko put his shake down. "This is my usual hangout though."

Kagami sighed as he finally stopped choking. He gave Kuroko a look before he grabbed a burger and tossed him one. "Here. I don't like the weak but you've earned yourself one of those."

Kuroko smiled. "Thank you."

"Woah, so Japan has burgers here too, huh?" Sasuke commented as both Kagami and Kuroko were startled with Kagami jumping up and hitting his head on the ceiling.

"For the love of fuck, can you guys just appear normally?!" Kagami said as he was nursing his head.

Sasuke sighed. "I don't know what's more normal than walking up to you and talking but whatever. Are you going to eat all that?" Sasuke asked as he pointed to Kagami's heart attack of a meal.

Kagami covered his stash like a greedy old man. "Get your own."

Sasuke smirked. "Well, I think I'll just stick to this," Sasuke said as he finished the last of his dango.

"So who are the Generation of Miracles?" Sasuke asked as he was walking with his two fellow freshman.

"They're my former teammates from middle school."

"Okay, why are they called the Generation of Miracles?"

"Based on not only their skill, but a unique ability that each of them have."

"Hn."

Kagami decided to ask his question. "Be honest, how would I fare against them as of now?"

Kuroko stopped walking as he turned to Kagami. "You'd be destroyed instantly."

Kagami became irritated at how bluntly Kuroko put it. "Did you have to say it like that?"

"They've each gone to play for their own schools, and only one of them will stand at the top."

Kagami chuckled. "This is great. Bring it on! I'll destroy each on them and become the best player in Japan."

"I don't think that's possible. I mean Sasuke is already on their level as of right now," Kuroko said.

"Hah? You mean this duck over here?" Kagami said laughing.

"Wrong side you idiot," Sasuke said.

"What the?" Kagami said but decided to just ignore that. "What do you mean he is on their level?"

"Based on what I saw today, I'd say he is at least able to keep up with them. You on the other hand, I'm not sure if you have any hidden talent or not, but you wouldn't be able to reach their feet."

Kuroko stopped their stride once again by stepping in front of the two. "You can't do it alone. I've also decided to help you in your journey. I'm a shadow. I'll be the shadow to your light and make you the best player in Japan...is what I'd like to say but I think Sasuke is going to get there before you."

"Are you making fun of me?!" Kagami shouted.

"But...I'll try my best."

Kagami had a serious look before he a smile adorned his face. "Hah, do whatever you want."

Kuroko nodded. "Wait, where's Sasuke?"

"Oh...he disappeared...again."

* * *

' _This Generation of Miracles stuff is starting to get me too excited. I can't wait to face them! I think I might actually use my full power for once…'_ Sasuke thought as his eyes changed from black to red with three tomoe circling around his pupil.

He continued up the stairs to his apartment eager for the next day to just start already.

* * *

"Ah, Sasuke-san! Perfect Timing. I think I'm starting to get used to your presence," Kuroko said as he ran up to Sasuke.

"What is it?" he asked as he was walking with his hands in his pockets while trying to avoid some obsessive stares he was getting from the opposite sex.

"Apparently we're not members of the basketball club yet. We have to get a form to confirm our name in the rosters. I was just on my way there when you passed me by."

Sasuke smiled. "Thanks for that, but I already got a form and now I'm heading back to class. Good luck Kuroko."

Kuroko watched Sasuke walk off with awe. "Cool," Kuroko said as he hurried to Riko's class.

Sasuke was sitting in class with his head down. All of a sudden, a piece of chalk was thrown at him but he managed to catch it with his thumb and index finger without even looking.

When he raised his head, he was met with a slightly irked expression from his math teacher. "Yes?"

"Sasuke, what's the answer to the question I just asked?"

Sasuke sighed. "X equals 2 times pi, and Y = cos x sensei," Sasuke answered as he flicked the chalk back onto the board with it landing perfectly.

"Tch, eyes on the board people," she said as she continued the lesson.

"Wow, Sasuke-kun is soo cool," one girl said.

"If only I wasn't taken!~" another said with hearts in her eyes.

Other girls just silently agreed before focusing on the teacher once again.

With a laugh that would make toddlers cringe, Riko stood in front of the first years with a smirk. "I've been waiting for you."

Kagami just gave her a deadpan look. "Are you stupid?"

"Is this a duel?" Kuroko asked.

"The Morning assembly is in five minutes!" Kagami shouted.

Riko gave the rundown of what they had to do, and one by one each of them shouted out their intro and goal starting off with the egotistical Kagami, onto Kawahara, then Furihata and finally Fukuda.

When Sasuke went, half of the girls screamed and almost broke formation going on about how they wanted him and some went as far as to ask him out right then and there, but he just brushed it off as Kagami gave him a dirty look.

Before Kuroko could go, one of the teachers stopped him short of his introduction.

After a harsh scolding, they weren't allowed back on the roof.

However, the next day before school started, Kuroko used chalk to write a single sentence that caused a commotion all throughout the school. He wrote "We will be the best in Japan". Which more than made up for not being able to announce his big goal to the school since he already wrote on the school grounds.

"Hey...where the hell is all the chalk?" the teacher shouted as he looked around but couldn't find a single piece.

Sasuke smirked. _'Well, that's one way to go about it,'_

After school, everyone was getting ready for practice as usual when all of a sudden Fukuda burst through the door. "She's back! The coach is back! We're going to be playing a practice game!"

Hyuuga raised an eyebrow. "Who're we playing?"

Rubbing the back of his head that made Sasuke's eyebrow twitch at the familiar gesture, Fukuda replied, "I don't know but she was skipping for some reason," he explained.

Hyuuga gave a half-hearted smile. "This can't be good…"

"So, this is Seirin High, huh? New and pristine just as I expected," a certain blonde pretty boy said as he stepped foot into the school courtyard.

As soon as he did, many of the girls gawked at his mere presence and blushed as they whispered how hot he was. Then, some of them started to realize who he truly was…

Squeaking sounds of shoes stopping and pivoting could be heard as the Seirin basketball team were in the middle of practicing their plays and formations.

Kagami pulled a fast one on Izuki as he did a spin move mid-dribble and dunked the ball earning cheers and gasps from his teammates.

In the corner of the gymnasium stood none other than Kise the copycat with a sly grin on his face as he studied Kagami's set of moves he just performed.

"He just might be able to beat the Generation of Miracles!" the first years were saying with joy.

As they had just learned of their opponent, they all heard murmurs and high-pitched squeals as a long line and crowd of girls were gathered for some unknown reason.

"Wh-Where did they all come from?" Riko asked as she suddenly started feeling out of place.

"Uh, I didn't mean for this to happen," Kise said as he continued signing autographs for his fangirls.

Sasuke blanched as he took several steps back. _'Too many of them...this guy better not be here for long,'_ Sasuke thought irritated at the blonde.

Kuroko bowed his head. "It's good to see you again."

"Good to see you."

"Kise Ryota."

"Sorry, really. Um...do you think you could wait five minutes?" he asked while rubbing the back of his head.

Sasuke was inching his way back as more of the girls grew restless and began looking all around the gym while waiting for their autograph. _'Slowly...if I just head back slowly to the locker room I can avoid a potential catastrophe!'_

Too bad.

"Ah, isn't that Sasuke-kun?!" one girl screamed.

"Sasuke-kun? Where? Where?!" another asked while she started hyperventilating.

One girl almost fainted. "I'm in the same vicinity as Sasuke-kun!"

' _Fucking...fuck, SHIT!'_ Sasuke thought as he stopped his useless struggle and sighed before he was met with a rush of girls hounding at him with confessions and eventually a mob of girls were fighting over who gets Sasuke.

"What a drag…" he said.

Kise was left stunned and a bit annoyed. "They'd rather go for that twig?" Kise whispered as his bangs shadowed his eyes.

Riko decided she's had enough and could not afford to have her player injured or worse. "Alright, that's it! Everybody, OUT!" she yelled as they all froze before Kagami decided it was not enough and walked up to all of them.

"You heard her...move it," he said in a low voice as he gave them a dangerous stare before they all shrieked and ran out of the gym leaving a tattered Sasuke with lipstick left all over his face.

"Pfft," Izuki tried holding in his laugh as he let everyone in another one of his jokes that eventually got them all laughing.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in their direction. "I'll destroy you all if you keep laughing," he threatened.

That got them to shut up. He even silenced Kagami as the red couldn't deny the sense of authority he felt from him.

"You're all ignoring me?" Kise said as he faked some tears while earning sweat drops from everyone.

"What are you doing here?" Hyuga asked.

Recollecting himself, Kise took steps forward until he was face to face with Kuroko. "Just thought I'd come say hi to my old friend. Kuroko and I were best friends back in middle school."

"Not anymore than anyone else," he retorted causing Kise to cry.

Kise sensed a ball coming at him before he blocked the said ball. "Ow, what was that for?"

"Kagami!" Riko and Hyuga yelled.

He only smirked as ignored their shouts. ""Sorry to interrupt-"

However, he got a smack to the face from Sasuke. "No, I'm sorry to interrupt, but you better have a good reason for being here you degenerate," Sasuke said earning more snickers from everyone.

Kagami swiped his hand out of his face before giving him a murderous look. "What is your deal you bastard?"

Sasuke turned around with narrowed eyes. "Shut up," he said as once again Kagami had complied.

Kise had a curious look on his face. "What's your name?" he asked.

Turning back to Kise, Sasuke replied, "Sasuke Uchiha."

Picking up the ball, he tossed it to Sasuke who gave him a quizzical look. "Why don't you play me one on one?"

"Why? You're wearing a suit and slacks with dress shoes..."

Kise choked on his spit as he was walking to one of the baskets. "Are you serious? Just one game! Whoever can score up to five wins."

Sasuke sighed once again as he nodded and approached Kise as he checked up the ball.

Passing it back, Kise waited for any indication as to what Sasuke was planning to do.

' _Just for that little escapade he caused, I'm going to break him!'_ Sasuke thought furiously as he seemed to disappear to Kise when to everyone else he just stood still as Sasuke drove past him and did a two-handed windmill dunk.

That caught not only Kise by surprise but Kagami as well. "He can dunk? But that wasn't just any dunk!"

' _He just continues to surprise us more and more. He's only about 170 cm tall and yet he can dunk just as good as Kagami…'_ Riko thought not believing what she was seeing.

' _He was right in front of me, yet it was like he just vanished...he couldn't be…'_ Kise thought as he readied himself for the next attack.

' _I'll use everything against this pushover of a Miracle,'_ Sasuke thought as he did a crossover to the left so quickly he was able to bounce the ball behind Kise and crossover back to the right before doing another lay up.

"What? So fast!" Izuki said astonished at Sasuke's level of play.

Kagami had a serious look on his face. "So he knows Street basketball. Damn, I wish I would've played against him that night."

' _What the hell? It's like I'm playing against Aomine...no...I don't think Aomine would be able to do what he's doing at that speed let alone defend against it. Who is he?'_

Sasuke got past Kise once again as he dunked once again. "Here," Sasuke said as he gave Kise the ball. "I'll give you one chance to score at least one point," Sasuke said unaware that the crowd of girls returned just in time to see the start of the game and were all giddy at how their Sasuke was beating Kise the model.

"Keh, you're looking down on me. Well, I hope you don't regret this," Kise said as he did a fake to the right before stepping back and pulling up to shoot.

What left him completely thrown off balance was the fact that the ball was not in his hands when he reached the peak of his shooting form. Instead, Sasuke blocked his shot with quick "reactions".

"Hah? How did he block that? His reaction is time is way too sharp!" Koganei exclaimed.

However, no one noticed how wide-eyed Kuroko and Kise were when they looked at Sasuke. "It's over," Sasuke said as he picked up the ball and performing a fake crossover to his left and then to his right by going between his legs so fast that Kise was left on the ground while Sasuke scored the last point.

' _There's no mistaking it,'_ Kise and Kuroko thought in disbelief.

' _He can see the future!'_

' _He can see the future!'_

Kise was looking down at his hands when the whole gym was completely silent with the ball bouncing being the only thing that anyone could hear.

Then all hell broke loose…starting with fangirls. Which thankfully resulted in Sasuke's and Kise's conversation to not be heard with exception to Kuroko.

"You! You can see the future can't you?" Kise asked as he pointed at Sasuke.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked in his usual aloof tone.

"Cut the bullshit! There's no way anyone can react that fast, and besides I know a guy who can see the future just like you!"

Sasuke flinched for a second before narrowing his eyes. "Okay, so let's just say I can see the future? What's it to you?"

"Is it the emperor eye?" Kise asked.

Sasuke scoffed. "What the fuck is an emperor eye? And no, it's not and I don't even have a name for it anyway. It's just something I can do besides...I don't have a grudge against you or anything so sorry for the humiliating game. Just don't bring fangirls near me ever again," Sasuke said as he offered Kise a handshake.

Kise was amazed at how kind Sasuke was being despite his first assumptions on the guy. "It's no problem, but I just never knew someone like you even existed. We definitely have the odds stacked against us, so you should give us Kuroko just to even the stakes!"

"No way," Kuroko said as Kise continued to cry.

With that eventful practice over with, everyone went home while an oddly quiet Kagami was just staring at the floor. "Hey, Sasuke...I challenge you to-"

"He's gone," Kuroko said as Kagami was left with a lot of fighting spirit that he didn't know how to get rid of.

"That damn bastard!"

 **And that's it for the first chapter. Tell me what you guys think about it. Was it too early to reveal Sasuke's abilities? Anyway, all reviews are appreciated. Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everybody! Let me just answer a couple of reviews first:**

 **Hahaminato:** Naruto won't be on a team, but he will make an appearance later on in the story. So, look forward to that if you wanna see Naruto at all and he will be on par with Sasuke.

 **Duke Drake:** Yes, Sasuke pretty much has Emperor eye + Perfect Copy. The difference is, however, is that Sasuke can see way farther into the future and has pretty much more court vision than the any of the eyes maybe not as good as the demon eye that Nash has. Also, I might as well say this now since we're on the topic. He does have the ability to use the Rinnegan in his left eye but only Naruto has pushed him that far. He'd crush Nash and his whole team with that so there's no need for it for a while unless I make the GoM stronger.

 **Now onto the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter 1**

* * *

Chapter 2

Unrivalled Strength!

* * *

"So, how exactly did you just drive past Kise like that Sasuke-Kun?" Kuroko asked as they were waiting for everyone else at the gym so they could head out.

Sasuke's eyebrow rose as he picked up a basketball. "It's no surprise you out of all people didn't take it as just pure speed. Yes, I used misdirection to draw his attention elsewhere. However, coupled with my speed and agility, getting past him just with a normal drive would've probably been easier and had the same effect. I just wanted to spook him was all."

Kuroko knew that Kise wasn't a pushover, so he figured Sasuke used misdirection. But the fact that he could've done the same with just a regular drive was mind-boggling. "Do you think you could teach me?"

"Well, while I'm sure you could get the misdirection part down you'll need to work more on your dribbling, and probably your endurance training altogether before you can even make it effective. At your level, about two of those drives in a game coupled with your passes and running will suck you dry of your stamina. That's if you have something to misdirect it to. Well, I've given you some things to work on so once you're ready just check in with me."

Kuroko nodded with a grateful expression as he was surprised when Sasuke disappeared and did a layup.

He frowned. "I didn't ask for a demonstration," he said as he was a bit irked it worked on him.

Sasuke looked at Kuroko with a bland expression. "What are you talking about? I just ran past you is all," Sasuke said which blew Kuroko away.

"Hey, duck!"

Sasuke turned to look at the tallest player on their team, Kagami, walk up to him with his fists clenched and eyes bloodshot. "It's time to battle me one-on-one!"

"I'm good," Sasuke said as he started doing stretches.

Kagami flinched as a red aura started coming off in waves around him. "Why not?" he shouted.

"I wouldn't want to make you quit Basketball," Sasuke said seriously.

Kagami heard snickering behind and turned around to see everyone holding their mouths as they were trying to hold back their laughs. "What are you laughing at?" he asked irritated. Sasuke shook his head as he finished his last set. "You blockhead, save your stamina for the practice game."

Kagami pointed a finger at him. "Then why are you practicing right now?"

Sasuke just shrugged his shoulders as he was about to answer before Riko cut him off. "He's not playing today...or for the next few games in the Inter-High for that matter," she said.

It became so quiet that everyone could be able to hear a pin drop on the floor for the next few seconds or so.

"Why?" they all yelled in disarray.

She looked at her watch before she motioned for everyone to follow her to the bus. "I'll tell you on the way to Kaijo."

"So, he asked you to sit out for the next few games? Why is that Sasuke?" Hyuga asked.

He was resting his eyes and replied without looking up with his arms folded. "Simply because I'd rather not paint a target on our back too soon. To be honest, Kagami and Kuroko alone have made this team significantly stronger. If you were to put me in all games along with them it'd be a one-sided battle no matter how you look at it. So, I asked coach to keep me as a trump card instead of showing all of our moves right from the start."

"Oh, if you put it like that it makes more sense. However, you're not slacking off at practice you hear me you rookie!" Hyuuga warned as he gave Sasuke a scary look.

Sasuke just sweatdropped. "Of course Captain," he said as he was put off by Hyuga's sudden bipolar behavior.

"This place is huge! You can really tell when a school is devoted to its athletics," Hyuga said as he lead the team around even though he had no idea where to go.

"Hey, guys!" shouted a familiar voice from afar.

Fortunately, he was saved by Kise.

"Kise!" Kagami yelled.

He stopped about a few feet in front of them. "This place is huge, so I thought I'd come get you," he said.

"Hello," Riko said as she bowed.

Right after she greeted him respectfully, Kagami stomped forward rather rudely. "Kise…"

However, he was completely ignored by Kise who just strolled past him. "Kurokocchi, ever since you turned down my invitation to join us, I've been crying into my pillow every night," he said while rubbing his dry eyes that definitely had no tears in them.

"What's wrong with him?" Hyuuga asked.

Kagami just stared at Kise angrily with his red eyes. "Just show us the way."

"Not even a girl has turned me down before."

"Are you ignoring me?"

"Could you please stop being so sarcastic?" Kuroko asked politely.

Kise just narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "I'm interested to know more about the guy who is making Kurokocchi say those things," Kise said as he turned to walk, stopping just in front of Kagami. "I don't care much about being called the Generation of Miracles, but I can't ignore such an obvious challenge. I'm not mature en-"

"Alright, enough talking, can you please just show us inside," Sasuke interrupted as he was eating his second dango stick of today.

Kise blinked before he jumped and screamed like a little girl while he putting his hands up to fight. "What in the actual fuck?"

' _There he goes again…'_ everyone thought just as they were beginning to get used to Kuroko.

Kise regained his composure after he took a good look at the guy that completely demolished him in a one-on-one yesterday. "It's you…"

"What is it? Do I have something on my face?" Sasuke asked a bit annoyed.

"No, it's just...you're just like Kurokocchi! Anyway, let's just get going."

All the while, Kise could not help but cry on the inside when he realized how they were going to get destroyed if Sasuke was going to play.

"We're playing on half a court? The other side is being used for practice?" Riko asked confused about the whole situation.

Kaijo's coach looked up from his clipboard as he saw Seirin enter the gym. "Oh, you're here. Welcome. I'm coach Takeuchi." His shoulders tensed a bit as he looked around at the team. "Which one of you is the coach?"

"That's me," Riko replied.

"Huh? You? You're not the manager?"

"I'm Coach Aida Riko. We look forward to playing with you today," she said with a bow.

"Uh yeah," the coach responded while rubbing the back of his head with a perplexed expression on his face.

Taking a look around, Riko was a bit sheepish to ask but did so anyway. "So, um...what is this?"

"Exactly what it looks like. We've only made simple arrangements for today's game."

"Arrangements?"

"There won't be enough to learn from this game to make it worth watching for the guys sitting out."

Sasuke was now glaring daggers at the fatass that dare talk down to him and his team. _'I am starting to regret my sitting out these next few games,'_ he thought with fury.

Riko started to shake, but was trying her best to keep her composure. "I see," she said with a shaky voice.

"We're having the other players practice as usual so we don't waste time. Despite the arrangements you'll be playing our regulars. I hope you won't let us triple your score," he finished with an irritating raise of his hand as he walked to talk to his regulars.

Riko was now visibly holding back the urge to strangle the coach of Kaijo who dared to look down on her team.

Seirin began to feel like they weren't welcome, but also were itching to show Kaijo a thing or two about their basketball.

"They're looking down on us. They're treating this like a sideshow to their practice," Kagami grumbled.

Sasuke decided to speak up with a rather icy tone. "Screw this… coach, let me take all of them on by myself," he said. Everyone just gave him a deadpan expression to which he dared to add, "Better yet, let's make it an official one versus five game-"

"Are you going to sit out or play? Make up your mind you stu-" Kagami shouted but couldn't finish courtesy of Sasuke's hand in his face.

"Shut up you worthless, friendless, waste-of-space, literal scum of the Earth," Sasuke said which left everyone astounded that he took it that seriously and went that far.

"What am I even supposed to say to that?" Kagami asked with a raised voice.

"Sasuke-Kun, you're not playing and that's final," Riko said.

Sasuke just sighed and gave Kagami a pat on the back. "Then, go out there and give 'em hell," he said to Kagami with a smirk.

Whatever Kagami was gonna retort with flew out the window as he returned the smirk. "You can count on us. Now get your hand off my face!"

While Kise was putting on his uniform, everyone noticed that after a talk from the coach he changed back and just proceeded to tell them about giving them a beating so the coach can put him in.

Once everyone was changed, the starters from each team were lined up in the middle of the court. "Uh, we're starting the practice game between Seirin High and Kaijo High. Can I please have your five players line up?" the referee asked.

Kuroko stepped forward with a raise of his hand. "Um, I'm here."

Everyone was shouting "Oh's" when they realized that Kuroko had barely any presence.

Once the coach blew the whistle, the jump ball had commenced.

Taking the first possession was Kaijo since they won the aerial battle, and their captain started off with dribbling and revving up his team. "Alright! One, let's keep it up!"

Due to the cockiness of the coach, Kuroko came in full throttle with the steal. Picking up with the dribble, he started heading toward his basket ready to take control of the game.

All of the Kaijo players were confused as to where Kuroko came from but were even more surprised by how slow he was.

The captain of the team was about to go for the steal once again, but he was taken aback once again when Kuroko slipped a quick behind-the-back pass to his right with Kagami on the receiving end.

Kagami jumped up and slammed the ball in with his right hand.

Landing on the ground, what he failed to see was clear as day to everyone.

' _He broke the hoop!'_

"All right!" he yelled as he finally took notice of the broken hoop in his hands. "Huh!"

"That thing's dangerous. One of the bolts is rusted," Izuki said.

"Even so, that's not normal," Kasamatsu said in awe.

"This thing is bigger than I thought," Kagami said absentmindedly.

"I'm so sorry," Riko said with a bow.

' _Tch...showoff,'_ Sasuke said when he heard a voice inside him hadn't heard since he returned.

' _ **Like you're one to talk**_ _,'_ an echo of a voice that sounded just like Sasuke's spoke inside his mind.

' _What do you want? You've been silent since we left America.'_

' _ **I got bored since you left Uzumaki...but hearing about this Generation of Miracles got me interested. It's been awhile since you were fired up against an opponent. Let me have some fun**_ _!'_

' _I won't need your eyes just yet. I'm doing fine with mine. Besides, I haven't actually used them at their full potential and you know it.'_

' _ **Hn, don't keep me waiting too long**_ _,' Sasuke's other half said as he faded away._

"I'm sorry we broke your hoop. Since we can't play like this, could we use your full court?" Kuroko asked.

Seething with newfound rage, the coach found himself backed into a corner when he was forced to bring the hoops down.

"Let the game resume!"

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Kuroko said to Kise.

"Now that you're being given equitable treatment, why don't you put Sasukecchi in the game?" Kise asked.

Sasuke cringed at the nickname that Kise gave him.

"Don't worry about him. You're opponents today are us!" Kagami shouted.

"Hmph, don't you regret it then," Kise said.

Then, a sudden eruption of high-pitched squeals and cheers took over the gym. "Kise, over here!"

"He's so hot!"

Kise froze in major trepidation as he slowly turned to a twitching Sasuke who's eyes shadowed his bangs. _'I'm so screwed.'_ he thought in fear.

' _You're lucky I am sitting out blondie or you'd be dead meat,_ ' Sasuke thought as he was trying his best to not draw attention to himself.

After a small beating from Kasamatsu and an exchange of words brings us back to the game.

Running past all the defenders, Kise managed to get open rather quickly.

Kasamatsu went ahead and dribbled past a defender as well as bounce pass it to Kise under another player's legs impeccably.

Kise then went in for a one-handed dunk just like Kagami. Seeming to hold onto the basket a little longer, Kise finally dropped back down to the ground.

"Ah! He's so cool!"

"Idiot, I told you to break the hoop!" Kasamatsu shouted as he started roughing up Kise once again.

' _Well, he did dunk harder than I did,'_ Kagami thought, hardly able to believe it himself.

Hyuga dribbled the ball to half court; then, he passed it to Kuroko who instantly tapped the ball to Kagami who also did another one-handed forward-facing dunk.

"Let's go all out!" Kagami shouted after he landed not a second later.

"Yeah!" Hyuga responded

Riko and the others on the sidelines were enthralled by the way both teams were playing at the moment. _'Both teams are clearly adamant about making sure they score, but so much so that the defense pales in comparison. It's like like they're both punching each other in the face without bothering to defend!'_ she thought.

Kuroko continued to amaze everyone that could see him with his passes while Kaijo continued to answer back with their plays.

Then, Kagami decided to go for a fade-away shot after a high-speed dribble.

However, it was blocked by Kise who then proceeded to perform the same exact move he used on Kagami but with shot going in instead of being blocked.

Sasuke's boredom with the back-and-forth game was transitory when he witnessed Kise pull off something he thought only he could do. _'Did he just...copy a move? Interesting,'_ Sasuke thought as he was beginning to get harder to stay on the bench.

As Hyuga was dribbling the ball, Kuroko scared him by voicing his thoughts on their next move.

Taking a time-out, both of the teams' starters took a breather on the bench with both getting noticeably different treatments from their respective coaches. "How many points are you going to let them score?! Is the defense asleep? Huh?!"

"Sorry. This is hard," one of them whispered.

Kasamatsu agreed and turned to Kise. "You should be able to take on Kagami, but what is with Number eleven?"

Kise's mouth spread into a grin as he was jovial at being able to brag about his former teammate. "I know, right? Kurokocchi's actually…"

"Why the hell are you so happy?" Kasamatsu asked irritated as he punched Kise in his kidney area earning a grunt from the model.

However, Kise pushed his hand out of the way with a confident smile on his face. "It's okay. The balance will tip soon enough."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner that you're misdirection can wear off?" Hyuga asked in panic.

Sasuke scoffed. "Who do you think we are? God? Every technique has a weakness. Well since we're having a "confess the weaknesses" meeting, I might as well tell you mine," he said.

' _This can't be good,'_ Riko thought as she was waiting for a list of bad things that Sasuke would say.

"Well...if I find some weaknesses I'll tell you. Well, aside from the misdirection time limit that is."

Leaving everyone in suspense and then dropping a joke like that sorta pissed them off. "Don't make it sound bad if you have no weaknesses that you know of!" Hyuga said as he chopped Sasuke in the head.

"Ow, what was that for?" Sasuke asked.

"For being an idiot!" Hyuga shouted.

Kise still had that smug expression on his face before he explained the weakness to Kasamatsu. "They won't be able to use their misdirection after forty minutes. In fact, the longer he's in the game the more we get used to it effectively making him just another player."

"Switch from man-to-man to zone defense. Keep it tight inside, and move in to help stop Kise quickly. Stopping Kise if your first priority," Riko said as she retreated back to the benches.

Sasuke was sitting there with his arms crossed and an unusual concentrated look on his face. "Are you sure about this?" Sasuke asked.

"You said it yourself, we can't show all of our strength early on, and especially not in a practice game," she said effectively calming him down even if just a bit.

After a while, Kise began to talk down to Kagami who for some odd reason began to laugh uncontrollably. "Sorry, sorry. I'm just so happy."

"Happy?" Kise asked.

"It's been a long time since anyone has said that to me. I heard it all the time over there."

"Over there?"

"In America."

Kise immediately was surprised and had an excited look on his face. "You lived in America? That's Amazing."

"I thought I jumped the gun coming back here to play. Hearing you say that is encouraging, really," Kagami said as Kise had a frown on his face once again. "Life is all about challenges. There's no point if there's no one strong to play. It's better if I can't win!" Kagami said as he clenched his fists.

After Kuroko and Kagami's coordination, Seirin was able to keep up with Kaijo's continuous scoring as once again they were both scoring one after another. Once there were only a few seconds left, Kagami had blocked Kasamatsu's layup.

The ball had fallen into Hyuga's hands as he struggled to throw the ball toward Kagami.

Kise stepped up in front of them as he was concentrating with all his might to figure out what kind of play they were setting up. He was surprised however, when Kagami passed it to Kuroko who in turn didn't immediately pass it back to Kagami.

Once Kuroko had both hands on the ball, he made a motion that everyone assumed was him performing a shot.

Sasuke had a knowing smile on his face. _'...Alley-oop, huh? Not a bad way to end the game,'_ he thought.

"I won't let you do that!" Kise roared with a certain fire in his eyes.

Kagami finally had one palm on the ball as Kise was staring, wide-eyed as he was beginning to fall. "I don't need you to return the favor! That's because this ends now!" he shouted as he slammed the ball into the hoop as the referee blew the whistle meaning the game had ended with a buzzer-beater with the score 100 to 98 in Seirin's favor.

Kise just stood there with a lost look of disbelief as he contemplated his first time experiencing defeat.

"I can't believe we won!" Hyuuga said.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes comically. _'Is this dude...crying?'_

After a harsh kick to the back from Kasamatsu, Kise finally gathered himself enough to line up. "With a score of 100-98, Seirin High wins," the referee said.

"Thank you very much!" each team said as they bowed to one another.

As Seiring was beginning to pack their stuff, Sasuke heaved a loud sigh. "Well, as much as I wanted to play, I'm glad that I followed through with my plan to stay out of the game...and...the...next...few games," Sasuke said as he got noticeably more depressed as he forgot about the next few games.

Izuki attempted to cheer him up by patting him on the back.

Meanwhile, Midorima was having a long talk with Kise.

…

"But honestly...they're not good enough," Midorima said rather confident of himself and his team.

Kise shook his head. "Trust me, that wasn't Seirin's full strength at all."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

Kise was about to tell him when Takao interrupted with his loud breathing as he was pedalling the wagon he took Midorima in. "Midorima, you bastard! You left me alone in the middle of traffic! Do you know how embarrassing that is?"

"I just came to watch the game today, but allow me to apologize," Midorima continued as he faced Kise. "We will not lose to Seirin."

As he finished saying that, first Kise then Midorima himself to turned to look at the said team heading to their bus.

He smiled. "Well, I'll leave it as a surprise then," Kise said to himself quietly.

Riko gave everyone a thumbs up. "Everything's okay," she said.

Everyone was relieved at that bit of news.

"Thank goodness," Hyuuga said.

After a long silence, everyone had a bright smile on their face. "All right! We won!" Koganei shouted as he threw his arms up into the air.

Afterwards, they all were wondering what they could do to eat, but gave up as none of them could pool enough money for even a simple drink.

"I have enough money," Sasuke said as he was finishing another stick of dango.

Everyone stopped in their tracks, and immediately went up to him with tears streaming down their faces. "Sasuke! You're the best!" they all said in unison.

However, they were stopped by Riko as she blew her whistle. "Wait, Sasuke...you might not have to pay after all."

All of them gave her questioning looks as she began walking with them following suit.

"This is too much," Hyuga said as he was staring down a steak as big as a brick.

However, after a while, they noticed their steaks were disappearing out of nowhere when they could not bear to take another sliver of a bite. "What the?"

"Sorry, but I'm not losing to you! This is my fifth one!"

"Who said I was competing with you, you loser?" Sasuke said.

They were completely aghast by what they saw that they dropped their forks and stared with the jaws hanging down.

Sasuke and Kagami had finished several plates of the steak. Lightning streaked in between their heads as they saw the last plate.

They both reached for it, but Kagami was surprised when Sasuke reached for it after he did and yet had grabbed the steak with his fork with super-speed. "Thanks a lot," Sasuke said.

Kagami was twitching and had a ferocious vibe starting to come off of him. "I'm gonna-"

"We did it! Free steaks!"

They were all kicked out however, as the restaurant owner was pissed he couldn't rip them off.

Once everyone was gathered outside, they all thanked Kagami and Sasuke for saving their asses when it came down to it.

"Alright, let's go home. Is everyone ready?" Riko asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "Kuroko left a while ago. Did you guys not notice? Oh wait...right," Sasuke corrected himself before they could shout at him.

"Well anyway, let's go search for him. Everyone stick together so we don't have to go looking for everyone all night!" Riko said.

Sasuke had already left which the group had no indication of knowing that fact.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kise was having a long talk with Kuroko. "I didn't expect you to say yes, but I was serious," he said as he was trying to balance a ball on his nose while sitting on the top edge of the bench.

"You'll fall over," Kuroko warned in his usual monotone voice. "Sorry," he said as he looked down.

"I'm kidding," Kise said as he hopped down, "Anyway, I wanted to ask for your reason." Kise stopped bouncing the ball on the palm of his hand as he cast Kuroko a worried look. "Why, right after the middle school championship game, did you disappear?"

' _Hm...why indeed,'_ Sasuke thought as he had walked up to the two without them noticing and had been sitting on a bench for about a good two or three minutes.

Kagami was beginning to get irritated with Kuroko once again. "Sheesh," he mumbled as he continued his search as he also ignored Riko and her warning. He was pleasantly surprised and felt a nostalgic feeling as he watched the high schoolers play street basketball. As he was enjoying the game that was going on, he caught sight of two people he knew all too well.

"...I felt we lacked something," Kuroko continued.

Kise gave him a hysterical look. "Sports are all about winning. What could be more important?"

"I thought the same thing until recently. However, I don't know exactly what's wrong with it, but all I know is I hated basketball at that time. The feel of the ball, the squeak of the basketball shoes, the swish of the net. I started playing because I loved the game. That's why I was impressed when I met Kagami…"

Tuning out the rest, Sasuke noticed Kagami had walked up to them and was listening in. Deciding to see how this would play out, Sasuke continued his observations as he suddenly clutched his head in pain. _'What do you want now?'_

' _ **Let me play**_ _!_ _ **There is a perfectly good court to your right, and a strong player in front of your face**_ _.'_

' _You know what...I don't even care anymore...go for it. Just wait until their done bickering,'_ he said as he gave in.

' _ **...**_ _'_

Once Sasuke opened his eyes...his left eye had developed a ripple pattern with the two innermost rings consisting of three tomoe each. However, his right eye stayed it's usual dark color.

Yami Sasuke had switched when Kise was still giving his two cents to Kuroko. "The other four have special abilities even I can't imitate. I realized during today's game that he's still learning. Just like the Generation of Miracles, he has a unique ability. For now, he's still an immature challenger. He's enjoying the thrill of playing strong opponents. One day he'll reach our level, and then he'll drift apart from your team. Do you really believe Kagami won't be a different person?"

After a few seconds of silence, in came Kagami kneeing Kuroko as the said phantom was reeling in pain from the sudden action.

He turned to Kise. "Hey."

Kise smiled in return. "Were you listening?"

Sasuke cut in before Kagami could say anything. " **I was listening,** " Yami Sasuke said as Kise, Kagami, and Kuroko all were taken aback by his sudden intrusion.

"What the fuck! Why do you always do that?" Kagami shouted as Kise was breathing hard.

However, Kuroko grew wide-eyed as he knew something was different about Sasuke. Until just recently, he was not able to notice him. Then, all of a sudden he's invisible once again but he also has a different feel to him.

Yami Sasuke was about to suggest they play a game when his attention was drawn to a fight that was going on at the court beside them.

Kuroko had taken it upon himself to go and settle the fight himself while Sasuke was beginning to grow more excited by the second.

"There's nothing fair about this," Kuroko said as he was spinning the ball on his finger while bringing it to one of the thug's noses who stepped back.

Once Kagami and Kise had stepped in, they declared that five-on-three was good enough, when Kagami was elbowed on his side. " **I think you mean five-on-four, Taiga** ," Sasuke said as Kise and Kuroko visibly flinched.

Kagami had a bead of sweat running down the side of his face. "Uh, yeah, that's right…"

However, Sasuke raised his hand. " **Actually, I'll take them all on** ," Yami Sasuke said as everyone here thought he grew a second head.

Kagami stepped forward. "The hell do you think you're talking about? We're all playing-"

"Shut up! I'm ending this," Sasuke said as Kise put a hand on Kagami's shoulder.

"We should just let him handle this," Kise said as he was shaking to the confusion of Kagami.

"Hah? You're about to get beat so bad kid, but don't blame us for your mistake. We'll shoot for ball then-"

" **Jump ball is fine. Just hurry up** ," he ordered as he took his spot on the half court circle.

"You're just a hotheaded idiot. Let's hurry up and finish this guys!"

Kise had the ball and threw it up in the air. What happened next baffled all of them.

Sasuke had won the contest and had tapped the ball to the other team to which one of them caught it with a haughty smirk. "See? It's too easy!" he shouted but was confused when he didn't have the ball anymore as it was bouncing in front of him. "How? I dropped the ball?"

Yami Sasuke just ran past him and grabbed the ball going in for a layup.

"What just happened?" Kise asked incredulously.

Kuroko shook his head. "Once the guy had the ball, he just dropped it as he turned around...but why? Why was he confused?"

Passing the ball in, one of the thugs saw too many of his teammates open as he realized Sasuke was playing zone but as he went to pass he noticed that the ball was not in his hand. "What the fuck?"

He was going to pick up the bouncing ball when Sasuke had beat him to it and scored a half-court shot.

"What the hell is going on? Why are you two messing around?" one of the posers shouted as he took the ball and threw it to the other side of the court where one of the guys were open. "This is going in," he mumbled as he was setting up for a shot when he glanced at Sasuke in front of him and felt a weird feeling as he began to wobble before he regained his bearings.

He was about to shoot when he too had dropped the ball. "No...way," he said as Sasuke picked up the ball again and all four of the other players began to quadruple team him. He smirked as he did a fake crossover three times with inhumane speed before doing a fake spin move while bouncing the ball in between his opponent's legs before bouncing the ball back effectively breaking all of their ankles. He continued to dribble past them as he did an in-between-the-legs dunk.

Silence.

"Wha-uh-ah-..." Kagami continued to make gibberish sounds as he was amazed and wide-eyed at what had just gone down.

"What the fuck was that?" Kise asked rhetorically. "You can't just call that a game anymore…"

' _Okay that's enough, let me back out. You've gone too far and you're lucky you only used_ _ **Almighty Push**_ _otherwise the crowd that had gathered and began recording with their phones would unveil all of our strength,'_ Sasuke warned.

' _ **Well, I had my fun,'**_ Yami Sasuke said as he switched places with Sasuke as his left eye lost its tomoe spinning before all the concentric circles had gather inwards before revealing Sasuke's coal colored eyes.

What Sasuke used was nothing more than a superhuman analyzation of the future to which he moves and positions himself in a way that the opponents will respond to and put them in a state that will make them for some odd reason lose their ball handling skills for an instant and inevitably drop it. However, higher-skilled players just tend to dribble poorly or perform the next action just as poorly. This is due to them being in an uncomfortable position regarding the player and their teammates, the hoop, out-of-bounds lines, and Sasuke himself. Obviously, this would only be highly effective in team games as an opponent is less likely to lose the ball in a one-on-one given the amount of room to dribble in. He named it "Almighty Push" as it looks as if an unknown force pushes the ball out of their hands. He could also do the reverse, but instead of the ball, with his supreme court vision, he moves to where they have to respond in a way that makes players collide with one another effectively pulling them together. There is zero chance of this working in a one-on-one game as well. He named this technique "Universal Pull".

Every single one of the thugs that played against Sasuke were staring at him with a terrified expression on their faces as they watched his left eye change in a demonic way.

Sighing, Sasuke put his Seirin jacket back on as he began walking away.

Realizing that they were just standing in place staring off into space, the trio also followed suit.

"Amazing," one of the harassed players said taken aback by the completely one-sided game.

Kise, Kuroko, and Kagami were all giving Sasuke weird looks while the two Miracles were getting certain unsettling, familiar vibes from said player. "What?" Sasuke asked in annoyance.

"That was amazing! How have I not heard about you until now?" Kise asked excitedly.

"I was in America for a majority of my life, so it figures that I would not be known of around here."

Shaking his head, Kagami couldn't help the inferior feeling he was so desperately trying to squash out of his entire being. "You lived in America? Where?" Kagami suddenly asked in shock.

"Oh yeah, I heard you lived there too Kagami," he said as both Kise and Kuroko had knowing looks about the way he suddenly called him by his name. "Well, I lived in Los Angeles for awhile."

Kagami had wide-eyes at that bit of information he received from Sasuke. "No way...we lived in the same city!" Kagami shouted vigorously.

"Oh, is that so? Weird how I never saw or heard of you, but it is a big city after all."

"Well, I can't argue with that, but with your skill I would've assumed you'd be on the news or something…"

"Huh? I was...but I wasn't the highlight of the game," Sasuke said.

"What do you mean?"

With a forlorn smile on his face, Sasuke turned to the three as they stopped at the same bench they all were conversing at. "I lost in the basketball state finals."

They all were shocked that the very player before them, one they thought was unbeatable, was beaten at basketball. "Y-You lost? Well, that's America for you. The competition there is way more fierce than here," Kagami said.

' _Hn, I'm still better than that knucklehead...still can't believe he didn't say bye,'_ Sasuke thought as he was lost in his thoughts.

Kise was having his own thoughts on Sasuke as he waved goodbye to the trio.

Eventually, Riko found the three and proceeded to put Kuroko in a hold while everyone else continued on home.

As Sasuke was walking home, he felt his phone vibrate as his ringtone sounded. Taking it out of his pocket, Sasuke's eye twitched as he saw the Caller ID. Answering it, Sasuke put it to his hear with a sigh. "Hello?" he said.

"Yo, so I heard you went to Japan."

"Yeah, what about it?" Sasuke asked.

"Moody as always it seems. I hope it's not that time of the month-"

"Shut your trap Naruto. Finally decided to contact me, huh?"

"Hey, c'mon now! Cut me some slack okay? Coach is beating it into my body to not slack off and win the championship game," Naruto chided.

Sasuke heard in the background a voice that sounded like a certain ex of his. "Is that Sasuke-Kun?"

' _Oh great…'_ Sasuke thought as he could feel Naruto's grin, knowing exactly what the blonde was about to do.

"Naruto, don't you dare put Sa-"

"Sasuke-Kun!" Sasuke heard as he facepalmed before hanging up the phone. "What a fucking loser," Sasuke mumbled.

"H-He hung up!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto and Shikamaru were both holding in their laughs before it turned to whimpers as they looked at their manager's scary face. "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

"No-"

Naruto didn't finish that sentence as he was slapped by an irate Sakura. "Naruto, Shikamaru. Let's hurry up and get back in line, alright?" the coach ordered as both Naruto and Shikamaru straightened up.

"Yes, Coach Hatake!" they both shouted as they joined the rest of the team in suicides.

* * *

"T-This is chaos," Fukuda whispered as he looked unsure about buying bread after looking at the savages in front of him.

"We have to go. Three times the strength and footwork training will kill us," Kagami said.

"Alright, I'll go first," Kawahara said as he had a determined look on his face. "I might not be as strong as Kagami, but I'm pretty confident in my power," he said following up with a war cry as he began charging into the horde.

Sasuke and Kuroko shared looks as they both strolled forward.

Meanwhile...Furihata, Kawahara, Fukuda, and Kagami were all failures at even getting halfway through the crowd even though Kagami had a good idea to start with.

Eventually, both Sasuke and Kuroko had walked up to the group with the desired bread gathered in their arms.

Kagami had grabbed both Sasuke and Kuroko by the collars before Sasuke had pushed him off by his face. "You guys, how did you get these?" he asked completely ignoring Sasuke's action.

"Simple, we walked up and bought some and walked off."

Kagami was grinding his teeth. "Stop being sarcastic you bastard!"

"I'm being serious you idiot," Sasuke deadpanned.

Later on before practice had commenced, Koganei handed out the Inter-high bracket sheets. Hyuga had begun explaining what the Inter-High is and how it works.

"We've got three weeks until the Inter-High preliminaries. We didn't make it last year, but this year is going to be different. We'll be facing a lot of strong schools, but our biggest and strongest opponent is Shutoku high. Last year, they were in the nation's top eight. On top of that, similar to Kaijo, they had one of the Miracles join their team this year. If we can't beat them, we won't make it to Nationals.

Kagami turned his head to Kuroko. "Kuroko, you know who he is, don't you?"

Kuroko also turned as he had his usual blank face. "I doubt you would believe me even if I told you. But, just as Kise-Kun said, the other four are on another level," he said returning his line of vision to the ground. "If they've gotten even better, I cannot imagine how good they are now."

"Before we can play Shutoku, we've gotta win our first game. "Let's make sure we're on the ball!" Hyuga shouted.

"Yeah!" the rest of the team bellowed in response.

Eventually, Riko had returned and had given the run-down on their first opponents of the tournament which had brung everyone down.

"So, Kagami, Kuroko, and Sasuke, you will have your own training regimen starting tomorrow that we'll slowly integrate into our team play," Riko said as that made Sasuke and Kagami smirk in eagerness while Kuroko kept his emotions inside. "The preliminaries start on May 16th! Until then you won't have time to complain!"

"Yeah!"

Over the next three weeks, the Seirin basketball team trained extremely hard in all areas concerning both fitness, team plays, and improving strengths and weaknesses. Sasuke got along well with Izuki as they were both playing the same position, and he was starting to feel more at home with his team. The training wasn't at all hard, but he did get a good work out in, and was busy polishing up his skills that he hadn't used just yet while finding new ones. Overall, the team was coming far and were consistently diligent when it came to practicing. Soon, came the fated day of the Inter-High.

* * *

Closing her flip-phone, Riko gave her team a smirk. "Everyone's here, right?"

Kagami had bloodshot eyes once again, while everyone else was looking ready for the game.

Unfortunately, Sasuke's plan of sitting on the bench for the first few games was irrevocable now. He was twitching with the urge to play in today's game but knew that he had to sit out for the greater good of the team. "Oh well," he said with a smile as he was content with cheering his teammates on from the sidelines.

"Dad doesn't seem to be here," Hyuga said as he caught sight of the other team practicing.

Izuki turned to look behind him. "Now that you mention it…"

"Ouch," someone seemed to say in pain as everyone stopped to look at the source of the voice.

There, was the foreign player that was a bit late to the game. "Everything is so short in Japan."

He walked up to the coach who was looking at him with a less-than-pleased expression. "What are you doing? Hurry up."

"Sorry I'm late."

Running up to them, one of the main players put a hand on his hip as he had a slightly hysteric look on his face. "Why is that the only you can say fluently?"

A ball had just hit the back of his shoe as Hyuga had apologized while going to pick it up.

"By the way, did you guys really beat Kaijo?"

"Oh, it was just a practice game," Hyuga responded.

"I see. I guess the Generation of Miracles aren't as strong as we thought," the player said as Hyuga leveled him with a slight glare.

"The Generation of Miracles lost? They brought me here to beat them. I'm disappointed they're so weak," Papa said with an aloof expression and a shrug of his shoulders as he turned to walk away.

He gave a grunt of surprise when he ran into something or rather someone he later realized. "No, little boy. Children should not be on the court," he said but with a passing wind that came out of nowhere and indoors, Papa saw Kuroko's jersey. "You're a player?" he asked as he narrowed his eyes. "Hmph, they lost to a child like him? Are all the Generation of Miracles children?"

On the ground, the rest of the Seirin team were laughing so hard that it was obvious why. "Honestly, I'm starting to get annoyed," Kuroko said as he was stuck with the conundrum of hiding his emotion and expressing his irritation.

"You don't like to lose, do you?" Kagami asked still trying to recover from his laugh-fest. "I guess we'd better show dad why he shouldn't piss of kids!"

As they were all lined up, Riko glance at Sasuke who was blatantly brimming with excitement while shaking all the while. "Coach, this is really hard after all."

She sighed. "I know, but you were right and this is totally worth it in the long run. I'll only put you out there if the situation seems drastic, but if we can't pull through the first game without your help then how can we grow?"

Sasuke smirked while his bangs shadowed his eyes. "You got me there."

"Let the game between Seirin High School and Shinkyo Academy begin."

"Let's play a good game!" they all shouted.

As to be expected, Papa had won the jump ball leaving Seirin baffled. Passing the ball to the same player, Kagami moved to defend against him. It was all for naught, as even when he jumped to block the ball, he lost again in the battle involving height advantage.

Answering back, Hyuga passed the ball to Izuki who dribbled down and past half-court as he then bounce-passed it to Mitobe who passed it back to Hyuga.

Thinking it was going to go in, Hyuga shot a three but was once again shocked when Papa had not smacked but palmed the ball mid-shot.

"Seriously?" Hyuga shouted in confusion.

"Are you one of those hard-working teams?" the point-guard of the other team asked with a condescending tone.

"What?" Hyuga asked

"We see a lot of those. Guys saying it's not fair we've got a foreign player. We're not breaking _any_ rules."

"Well, you can have up to two of them," he responded simply.

"Right? What's wrong with getting strong players? It's really easy. All we have to do is pass the ball to him and we can't help but score."

Hyuga caught onto the bragging and false bravado of the overconfident player and a frown marred his face. "I don't know how easy it is, but if that's your policy, you'd better not complain."

His eyebrows furrowed in agitation as he stared at Hyuga. "We've got our own ridiculous players. We didn't have to recruit them though."

Papa went in for a shot that was too short and hit the rim.

Mitobe had successfully gotten the rebound and passed it to Koganei who dribbled until he passed it to Izuki who went for a layup.

Shooting over and over again, Papa's accuracy had significantly dropped with each turnover.

Working on his defense with Mitobe, Kagami had gotten stronger at putting pressure on his opponent which is resulting in what is happening with Papa.

"What's your problem?"

"This method is stressful for me too."

After his pondering, Kagami had caught up with his marked man, and decided to give him a piece of his mind. "Hey, let me tell you two things. First, I'll block one of your shots in this game."

Papa's eyes had narrowed. "There's no way you can do that. I will not lose to a team with a child on it."

Spinning and getting past his defender, Kagami had gotten open. "And second…" Kagami said as Izuki seemingly "passed" the ball straight to the tall player.

Thinking he was going to get the ball due to the rash pass, he was met with disappointment and surprise when the ball suddenly curved under his legs and went straight to Kagami.

Receiving the ball, Kagami did another one-handed dunk that he always seems to do. "...this kid might give you some trouble."

"Could you stop calling me a child."

Answering back with faltering confidence, the point guard had gotten the ball and passed it in. "Let's get them back!" he said as he passed the ball but soon realized his mistake.

Kuroko had smacked the ball down hard enough to get it to go up and into Kagami's hands as he performed another dunk.

Returning back to defense, Hyuga was amazed at how well Kuroko was playing in today's game. "Are you really that mad about being called a kid?"

"Yeah," Kagami agreed.

The first quarter ended with 23 for Seirin and eight for Shinkyo.

"Kuroko, we'll be swapping you out this quarter...and...Sasuke we're putting you in his place."

Everyone was stunned by Riko's choice while Sasuke nodded his head in understanding.

"Wait coach! I thought you both agreed that Sasuke would only play when we really needed him?" Furihata asked.

"While that much is true, all he's doing is assisting. Besides, no one really pays attention to Kuroko let alone notices his passes so Sasuke should be fine."

They all turned to Sasuke and had sweatdropped at his blatant shaking. "You must really be fired up, huh?" Hyuga asked.

"Let's get this over with," he said.

Once the second quarter had started up, Shinkyo immediately fired off with a basket while Kagami was not able to block or pressure Papa this time.

"He really is amazing," Izuki commented.

"Has he gotten even taller?" Hyuga asked.

"I'm serious now! I will not lose!" Papa declared.

"Hah, I couldn't ask for any more. Bring it on Dad!"

Hyuga was going in for a three when he pulled out a new play as he threw the ball straight at one of the players while Kagami realized what he was aiming for.

Before the player could touch the ball, Sasuke had punched the ball up toward the basket while Kagami had jumped and caught the ball mid-air proceeding to slam dunk it.

The point guard had passed the ball to one of the other players who passed it to Papa as he faked and set up for a jump shot.

He was horrified however when he saw Kagami jump up high enough to probably block his shot which forced him to pass it back to one of the other players.

"What's wrong Papa? You had that!" the point guard shouted.

Passing the ball back, he went for another shot as he realized once again that Kagami was gradually getting higher and higher.

Riko was starting to notice it as well.

Finally getting a three-pointer in, Shinkyo still had a long way to go thanks to Sasuke's assists.

Passing the ball in, Hyuga dribbled in before passing to Izuki who then bounce passed it to no one. With their attention on the ball they had not time to prepare when it curved straight back to Hyuga who had already sunk the three.

"Again? Where the hell are these passes coming from? I thought they benched number eleven?" the point guard asked no one in particular.

As they were on defense, Sasuke had ran by Hyuga and told him to start running back.

While Kagami was defending quite well, Papa had passed the ball to one of his teammates but it was stolen by none other than Sasuke who spun and threw the ball straight to Hyuga who blanched at the high-speed pass. "What the hell?" he shouted as he caught it and sunk another three-point shot.

Eventually, after the two next quarters, Sasuke was starting to get more noticeable to which they subbed back Kuroko in. Even after knowing they were not prepared for Kuroko to still be able to disappear.

Dribbling the ball with frustration, Papa glared at Kagami. "No, I won't lose," he said as he screamed while going for a shot.

"You said you were disappointed in the Generation of Miracles, but you overestimated yourself. Compared to you, they're way stronger!" Kagami shouted as he jumped up and finally blocked Papa's shot like he said he would.

The game ended with the score being 91 for Seiring and 67 for Shinkyo.

Up in the second floor, Midorima was perplexed. _'How can there be another player like Kuroko? Not only that, but he seems to be fundamentally stronger. What's going on? With this, they'll be able to use misdirection for the whole game...but it still changes nothing. I will triumph in the end,'_ Midorima thought.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap everyone! Hope you enjoyed that chapter! As always reviews are much appreciated and I'll try to respond to the critique and questions you all have. Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Seirin versus Seiho**

* * *

After the first game of the tournament, the second team Jitsuzen were trounced. What was unusual was that neither Kuroko nor Sasuke was needed on the court at all. Following that game, was the third round of the Inter-High Tournament which put Seirin against Kinga High. Despite being in the top sixteen last year, they were swiftly defeated once again. Riko noted that both Sasuke and Kuroko were finding it hard to keep still as they watched the others play.

Now, Seirin was up to play their fourth game…

* * *

Kuroko, Kagami, and Sasuke were all within the same area warming up when the door to the gym had opened up and in came a few familiar faces.

"Seirin, huh? This will literally be a walk in the park. Too easy!" the player in front said as he finally decided to turn his head to face his opponents.

He flinched and had beads of sweat begin to form on his forehead as he recognized the three players from before.

Sasuke spared the punks an indifferent glance before continuing to warm up for apparently no reason since he won't be playing at all.

"Yo, we meet again," Kagami said.

"Hello," Kuroko greeted.

Every single one of them was twitching, shaking, and fearing for their already wounded egos. They had a considerable lecture from their coach because a few of them tried to quit the game and leave with excuses that they weren't feeling good. Some of them were actually being serious and threw up on the court. However, the coach still hounded them for being pansies.

"Wow, we're actually getting through this much easier than I thought!" Furihata exclaimed.

"The championship league is pretty much within sight now," Fukuda agreed.

"Don't be so laid back! The championship league is actually much harder than you would think," Izuki said.

"What do you mean?" Kawahara asked.

"For the last ten years, the same three schools have made it to the championship league. Since they're all pretty even skilled, the winners were never the same twice in a row. So, they try to keep new schools from taking their place making them the three undisputed kings of Tokyo," Hyuuga explained.

"But, you guys made it to the championship league last year, right?"

"We were utterly crushed, yes. We didn't stand a chance at all...our main worry is going to be Shutoku high since we are most likely to face them. They've even managed to acquire a Miracle on their team, Midorima Shintarou."

"The three kings, huh?" Kagami mumbled.

"Oh, they're here," Hyuga said.

"It's better to see something for yourself than hear about it," Riko said.

Walking in with a palpable sense of confidence were the regulars followed by the second and third string players. It was clear to everyone which one was Midorima.

"I'm gonna go say hi," Kagami said.

After their little encounter, as well as Kuroko butting in to give his two cents, Midorima had an eerie feeling as he turned to see the rest of Seirin heading up to the second floor to spectate the game.

' _Strange_. _We've adapted to Kuroko, yet he…_ ' Midorima thought as an unsettling feeling continued to get worse inside him.

Once the game had started, Sasuke was busy studying the level of play that this team would have. As usual, everyone was oblivious to him except for Kuroko.

Shutoku had kicked things off with their strong inside game, and their outside game was next to non-existent. This must've been a strategic approach to pressure their opponents to play zone because it would've left Midorima with a chance to score from the outside much easier with team plays.

"How foolish. That is why you'll never win," Midorima said as he shot his high-projectile three.

Hyuga was wide-eyed at how high the shot had gone up. The arc was merely ridiculous.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly at the first shot of the ace.

Shot after shot, Midorima continued to amaze the audience.

Once the game was over, Midorima continued walking until he turned his line of sight to Seirin. His eyes only met Kuroko and Kagami's however.

He flinched very slightly when he caught sight of Sasuke who had a fixated stare the whole time. Then, after a few seconds of staring him down, he continued walking as did the rest of his team.

* * *

"We have another game today?" Kagami asked which earned him a bonk to the head.

"Check the bracket properly next time!" Riko shouted as she pointed at the sheet. "It's at 6 pm, so we have to be prepared."

"Two games in one day is taxing. We can recover, but we're still tired," Kuroko said.

Sasuke was listening to their conversation as he was leaning back on the wall with his hands in his pockets and his eyes closed.

Kagami glanced at him before walking over. "Hey, why do you seem so depressed, huh?"

"Quit yelling," Sasuke said.

"I agree with Kagami-kun Sasuke-kun, you should really cheer up since we're on a winning streak," Kuroko insisted.

Sasuke opened his eyes before silently taking a look at everyone smiling at him. "Maybe."

Hyuga chuckled as he wrapped one arm around Sasuke's neck. "Alright! That's more I like it, rookie!" Hyuga gushed.

Sasuke had a displeased look on his face. "Stop, captain."

"What was that?" Hyuga snapped.

Sasuke sighed. "Nothing at all."

"That's what I thought. Now, let's go!"

* * *

The next day, Kagami and Kuroko were eating lunch together in their classroom when Riko had walked by. "Perfect timing you two. Could you help me carry these boxes?" she asked panting.

"So why are you having us carry these boxes again?" Kagami asked.

"Oh please, would you really have me carry all of this by myself. Well, it's the recordings of Seiho and Shutoku's previous games. I thought it would be a great start for tomorrow's practice to learn our opponent before we play them."

"Seirin is not going to last against them. Looks like we're playing them in the finals. Right, Shin-chan?"

Midorima nodded as he gave an affirmative "Ah".

* * *

Sasuke was practicing at the very same basketball court where he met Kuroko and Kagami. A few people were enjoying games of streetball, but thankfully Sasuke had a full court to himself while they all played half court on the other side.

Sasuke remembered Midorima's shots he made before he dribbled the ball to half court.

He then took a shooting stance before taking his shot and releasing the ball from half court.

The shot went in clean without touching the rim or backboard.

Everyone's attention was now on him as he grabbed the ball with a blank look on his face before going back and performing another half-court shot.

"No way," one of them whispered.

"That's his fifth shot in a row," one of them said before he started fumbling with his phone to take a video.

Sasuke noticed the crowd he gathered and that some of them were planning on taking videos. "Tch." Sasuke sucked his teeth before picking up his ball and heading back to his apartment for a much-needed shower and rest.

After hopping in the shower, eating, and brushing his teeth, Sasuke jumped into bed and within minutes fell straight into a deep slumber.

Sasuke walked past the school gates with his usual aloof demeanor while many of the girls started fixing their skirts and fixing their hair while admiring his mere presence.

One girl, in particular, had the gall to run up to him and bowed down while admitting she likes him and asking him to go out with her.

Sasuke just looked at her before sighing. "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested," he said with a cringe as he noted she started sobbing before bursting out into tears and running away.

"Grr, what a fucking stuck-up pretty boy. Doesn't he realize how grateful he should be that he does not have to try and get a girlfriend? All he has to do is breathe!" one student of Seirin cried in frustration, banging his fist on the bench he was sitting on.

His friends did not add to the complaint but just nodded in agreement with slightly less aggravated looks since they have accepted their reality long ago.

Sasuke made it to his locker before changing his shoes and heading up to his homeroom.

Throughout the day, Sasuke could not get out of his head the thought of going up against the Generation of Miracles. He also thought what it would be like to go up against them if they were still in a team together. He figured he would need their help as well as Naruto's to take them down if there are even stronger guys than Kise.

Soon enough the end of the school day arrived, and Sasuke made his way to the meeting before practice.

"Damn, Seiho is going to one tough team to go up against," Izuki mused as he put a hand under his chin.

Hyuga looked around at all of them. "I actually have an idea. Well, I'd be hard pressed to call it a strategy, but it's definitely something that we could try against them," Hyuga said, pushing his glasses up.

* * *

The following day was the day of the semifinals that would determine who goes up against Shutoku high school.

Seirin and Seiho were both warming up for their games as was Shutoku high. Kagami went in for a dunk and afterward glared at Midorima who in response cast a glare toward Kagami. They both stood and stared at each other for a while.

"You're staring down the wrong person, idiot!" Hyuga shouted as he grabbed Kagami's head and turned it toward Seiho's starters.

Everyone gathered around the two as all of them looked at the other team. "It seems Iwamura, their captain, is looking stronger than ever."

Izuki nodded. "Kasuga is the playmaker of the team. They're both third years, and they hold the team together and make it one of the strongest in Tokyo."

"Oh! You have super, red hair!" Tsugawa says as he runs up to Kagami.

"What?" Kagami asked annoyed as he turned to look at Tsugawa.

"Hey, Captain! Seirin's weak but they have one strong guy on their team!" Tsugawa yelled out.

Riko was once again raging hard while muttering threats at the baldy while everyone else had their own opinions on the loud mouth's insult.

Seiho's captain, Iwamura, punched Tsugawa in the head. "Sorry about this guy. He just doesn't know how to shut his mouth sometimes and not be rude."

"It's no problem, but I do hope you don't think we are the same as before. Don't look down on us," Hyuga said.

"We're not looking down on you. You were just too weak before to win, that's all. The same will happen this year, so good luck with that," Iwamura said before dragging Tsugawa back.

"Captain, what you said was just as rude as what I said!" he shouted as he flailed.

"Idiot! I just don't sugarcoat my words," he said.

Sasuke was bouncing the ball before he stopped and returned to his seat on the bench. "Let's get this game over with," he whispered to no one in particular.

"Looks like someone is in a rush," Koganei noted as he gave Sasuke a surprised look.

Sasuke placed his elbows on his knees and folded his hands in front of his face. "I'm not."

Koganei just chuckled softly before turning his attention back to the court.

While all of this was happening, Kise and Kasamatsu were already making their way towards the stadium. "You mean that Generation of Miracles kid?" Kasamatsu asked Kise.

Kise nodded, but suddenly his expression shifted from jovial to downright dangerous. "Though, I still don't know how Midorimacchi will fare against Seirin with Sasukecchi on their team."

"Wait, who is that?" he asked once again.

"Oh, you might not have noticed before, but he is that guy that made passes like Kurokocchi. However, he's much more versatile overall and can stand up to us on his own," Kise explained.

"Don't tell me you're going to give up that easily or else…" Kasamatsu threatened with an intense look.

"I know, I know! But seriously, you'll know what I am talking about when you've seen him actually play offense. It reminded me a lot of my former captain, Akashicchi."

Kasamatsu didn't give a response but instead looked over at Kise glued to his phone. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, this? I'm looking at the Oha Asa that Midorimacchi uses all the time to see how he and Kurokocchi will do."

"Really? What's it say?"

Kise gave Kasamatsu a good view of the phone. "Well, Kurokocchi's an Aquarius…"

"What is it?" Kasamatsu asked.

Kise turned around with a forlorn expression. "This is bad."

* * *

Seirin was heading towards the locker rooms when Kuroko stopped Kagami. "Kagami-kun."

"Huh?" he muttered while turning in response.

"Was there ever a time when you hated Basketball?" he asked.

Kagami just stared at him for a moment. "No, I've never hated the game."

Kuroko continued. "I have, and although it was a different reason I understand where our senpai our coming from. That's why I really want to win this game."

Sasuke was listening in on them without them knowing. As they both turned to head towards the locker room, he closed his eyes and proceeded to follow the duo.

After Riko tried to motivate the team through certain means, and the overall meeting was done and over with, Seirin finally headed out towards the court where the showdown with Seiho would finally begin.

Sasuke sighed as he already knew he would be on the bench starting off. Unless they were in a real pinch, he would not be entering any time soon.

Kuroko, Kagami, Izuki, Hyuga, and Mitobe all lined up across their opponents to bow and prepare for the tip-off.

Once the formalities were dealt with, both teams got ready for the commencement of the first quarter.

One of the referees of the game raised his hand before he shouted out, "Let the Semi-final match of Block A begin!"

He then approached the middle of the court before signaling both players to prepare themselves to jump. Mitobe was up against Iwamura.

After blowing the whistle, he tossed the ball up which sprung both players into action who attempted to slap the ball towards one of their team members.

Mitobe lost the battle by just a small bit and immediately was on his man.

Kasuga ended up with the ball and began dribbling past half court and towards his team's basket.

He scanned the court before acting accordingly and passed to Tsugawa who caught the ball and attempted to drive forward.

Just in time, Kagami stopped Tsugawa who tried to dribble in from the right side of the basket. Bouncing the ball for a bit, he smirked before attempting a crossover to the left.

His attempt was futile as Kagami managed to keep up, but was not prepared for the sudden pass to the inside.

Yoshikasu Omuro, who was Seiho's Power Forward, received and went ahead and put the ball up scoring two points for their team.

Now it was Seirin's turn to go on the offensive, and Izuki started off with the ball as he dribbled down the court.

As he was getting ready to make a play, he was unable to determine a player to pass to due to how well covered his teammates were. "This is unreal…" Izuki mumbled as he noticed Kuroko running in behind him.

Understanding the plan, Izuki dribbled towards him and tossed him the ball while Kuroko was getting ready for a fast pass but noticed immediately that he could not pull it off.

Realizing his only option was to hold onto the ball, Kuroko was forced to continually search for an opening while he stood there helpless.

On the sidelines, Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Interesting," he said as he sat up.

Riko turned her head towards him before sighing tiredly. "I really don't want to have to put Sasuke in."

Kuroko saw Kagami get past Tsugawa just a tiny bit and instantly threw the ball his direction.

He caught the ball but was immediately pressured and could not get past Tsugawa's defense. He tried to go left, and he also tried to get past to his right. It proved to be a fruitless effort when he realized he could not move freely.

He cursed before he charged forward, earning himself his first foul of the game.

"Shit," he mumbled when the referee made the signal.

"That idiot," Riko whispered before casting a nervous glance towards Sasuke who looked very ready to play. "At this rate…"

Once again, Kagami had the ball, but this time Izuki demanded Kagami get rid of the ball since he was holding onto it too long.

Kagami passed to Izuki, who went in for a layup only for it to be blocked. "What?" Izuki said shocked.

Once he had the ball again, Kagami still couldn't find a way to get past Tsugawa's defense.

"Man, and here I thought you'd be stronger than this. Oh well, looks like it'll be an easy win," Tsugawa boasted and mocked Kagami.

"What the fuck did you say?" Kagami growled as he once again charged straight into Tsugawa earning him another foul, his second one of the game.

Kise and Kasamatsu finally walked in and were taken aback by the fact that Seirin was being shut down so quickly and that they had yet to even score.

"No way," Kise muttered wide-eyed.

"They're off to a dreadful start," Kasamatsu said as they both found somewhere to sit.

"I thought they would've put him in by now then," Kise said.

"Well, now that I think about it it makes sense. They don't want to risk showing off that guy's playstyle even a little bit, so they have the advantage. Even so, with the situation they're in now, if they don't do something, there would have been no point."

"But still, the fact that Seiho is strong enough to keep them from even scoring is baffling."

"Their defense is just that strong. It's a man-to-man, but unlike most man-to-man, theirs put enormous pressure by staying on each man the entire time. No matter how good you are at passing, if no one is open you are playing at half-power," he explained thoroughly.

With that, the first quarter ended as the referee blew his whistle.

Riko was kneeling down while everyone was breathing hard, hydrating, and sweating a river. "Seiho is incorporating Old Martial Arts Techniques into their defense."

"Old Martial Arts?" Kagami asked as he mimicked a karate chop while trying to imitate the same sounds that martial artists make. "You mean this kind of thing?"

"That's not Old Martial Arts," Riko said as she shook her head. "To be more precise, they use movements from old martial arts. "One of the techniques they use is called 'Namba Running'. Typically, your arms and legs move in opposite directions when running, but when Namba running your arms and legs move in the same direction."

Kasamatsu was also explaining the same exact thing to Kise. "Apparently, not twisting your body reduces the strain on your body and the energy used."

"You sure know a lot about this," Kise pointed out.

"They're an unusual team. They have been interviewed by Basketball Monthly, too."

Kise just kept silent as he turned his attention back to Tsugawa.

"However, they're normal high school students just like you guys. It's not like they can fly or disappear. They can be caught off guard just like anyone else. You can win as long as you play like you usually do. There's still a chance!" Riko said as she finished her speech.

Riko sat down and looked at Sasuke apologetically. "I'm sorry for keeping you out all this time, but I have a good reason. Until we really need to, I won't be putting you in just yet."

Sasuke nodded. "I understand."

Riko smiled before she returned her gaze to the court.

With Shutoku, Midorima was busy shooting his three-pointers as usual. He stopped shooting however and returned to his bench.

His coach gave him an expectant look. "Well?"

"Yes, it looks I've got a feel for it," Midorima said pushing up his glasses and nodding slightly with a serious glint in his eyes.

"Mm," his coach said as he motioned for a member change.

Midorima walked towards his intended team member and gave him a high five before returning to his place on the bench.

"Huh? It looks like they are benching Midorimacchi," Kise exclaimed confusedly as he scratched his head.

"That makes sense. The opposing team is just a middle-tier team, and Midorima determined that with what little time he played in the first quarter," Kasamatsu revealed while returning his line of sight to Seirin.

Currently, Seirin was on defense against Seiho and were watching warily as they began passing at an astoundingly fast pace.

One, two, three, four, times the ball was passed around before Otsubo dribbled intending for a shot.

He then stopped abruptly yet smoothly and passed the ball to Tsugawa while said player attempts a layup.

Kagami jumps in to block the shot but unsurprisingly fouls Tsugawa in the process. Kagami just gave Tsugawa a royally irked expression as they both landed.

Tsugawa just looked up with an obsessed, hysterical look on his face which tempted Kagami, even more, to completely obliterate "bald-headed nuisance".

Sasuke shook his head at Kagami's repeated mistake.

"The thing about Seiho is that they're not only strong on defense but offense as well. They don't use Old Martial Arts Techniques just with defense but in the offense as well. In short, they're a well-balanced team that should not be taken lightly when they have possession."

"I figured that would be the case," Kise quipped as he smirked.

"While most teams have players of prodigies, Seiho consists of a team of experts."

Kise kept the smirk he wore on his face and if anything it grew. "Seirin has an expert of their own," he stated while staring at Kuroko with his chin resting on the back of his hands.

"Woah," Tsugawa grunted while he looked startled by Kuroko's presence.

"Sorry," Kuroko apologized.

…

"What the heck! Where did you come from? Where you in the game this whole time?" Tsugawa asked loudly.

"Yes, I've been playing the entire time. I'm Kuroko Tetsuya."

Kagami and Hyuga both had flabbergasted looks as they continued to watch the current exchange between the two first-years.

"Oh yeah, did you know? Last year, we finished the first quarter against your team with a twenty-nine point lead. That's why this time I want to make it thirty, but I guess I had nothing to worry about. Well, don't let it get you down!" Tsugawa mocked with fake innocence and cheerfulness as he jogged away.

"I understand. I will make sure that I am not disappointed," Kuroko seethed while his bangs shadowed his eyes.

Sasuke looked a bit more interested as undoubtedly took notice of the rising anger within Kuroko. "Looks like it's about to get serious," Sasuke mumbled.

Izuki was holding onto the ball looking for an opening when he bounced the ball towards the opposing team.

Before anyone had a chance to even react, Kuroko swooped in, grabbed the ball and spun while passing the ball to Mitobe who scored two points for the team.

Gasps and Whoops soon followed at the long-awaited retaliation.

Kasuga dribbles down to the other side of the court where he approached and managed to handle his way past Izuki.

Once he got past, he sets up for a three-pointer, but once he released the ball, Kagami had all but jumped up and blocked the shot. Back and forth, the other team continues to get the edge on one another regularly.

Now Seirin was only three points behind and the first quarter was soon coming to a close.

Tsugawa has the ball in hand and doesn't even get to do anything before the ball gets stole by Kuroko who tips it to Hyuuga.

Hyuga sets up and goes for the three-pointer which leaves both teams tied at the end of the first quarter.

Both teams return back to the bench for the intermission.

Sasuke had his elbows resting on his knees with his hands folded in front of him once again and was beginning to feel an urge to play. He, of course, kept his cool, and it has gone unnoticed by the team, but they all know how he must feel at the moment.

"Man, this shit pisses me off! It was all for nothing. I really wanted to get a huge lead, dammit," Tsugawa complained as he threw his hands up in the air.

"Tsugawa, that's enough of your disrespect. Shut your mouth if you know what's good for you," Iwamura ordered harshly.

Tsugawa blanched before nodding sadly. "Alright, alright."

"They were able to catch up simply because they are skilled. This is not the same team from last year. Seirin's strong. Do not underestimate them!" he shouted aggressively while giving them all hard looks.

"Hai!" they all responded, returning an equally determined look.

Catching their breaths with towels on the backs of their necks and heads while taking squirts of their water was Seirin.

Izuki cast a disappointed look to Kagami. "Kagami, you ought to be more careful when you're up against Tsugawa. Your fouls keep piling up, and soon we will have to bench you if you're not careful you know."

Kagami looked embarrassed at first but turned to Izuki with mild desperation. "I know that, but it's hard to avoid it once I've been tricked!"

"Haaa? What about that time you deliberately fouled baldy by charging into him because of his obvious provocation?" Hyuga asked, giving Kagami a scary look.

"Well…"

"Hey, why don't we put in Sasuke since Kagami is fouling so much?" Kawahara suggested while he was busy helping everyone get comfortable and get hydrated.

"We could, but that would just make sitting him out all these times pointless. Unless we're in a real bad pinch, I am not going to put Sasuke in. Besides, if we need to conserve Kagami's strength in the third or fourth quarter we'll put Sasuke in then," Riko explained.

Hyuga sighed sternly before he straightened his back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Well, what's done is done," Hyuga said as he looked at Kagami, "Just don't commit any more fouls idiot. We just have to do what we have to do. Let's win!"

"Right!" they all responded in unison.

Although Sasuke was stuck sitting his ass on the bench, he wasn't just dozing off and counting fucking sheep. In reality, Sasuke was actually studying the other team almost obsessively.

He cast a glance towards Shutoku who was on defense and watched their team captain, Otsubo, completely smack the ball out of one of the player's hands who was going in for a layup.

He wasn't in any way fazed by the show of athleticism and kept an impassive look on his face.

Once Seirin returned to the game for the start of the second quarter the difference was hardly undetectable.

Seiho had tightened up their defense and seemed to be more severe than they were in the first quarter.

Kagami had the ball in hand and was dribbling back and forth before he approached the first defender and bounced the ball between his legs and after Kuroko would bounce the ball right back. This would continue on for the next defenders until Kagami got close enough to the hoop to where he could dunk it. Once Kuroko bounced the ball down he did so with more force and tapped the ball hard enough to get it high enough for an alley-oop.

Cheers ran throughout the crowd at the spectacular offensive play shown by the Light and Shadow of Seirin.

"Wh-What? They can do that?" Tsugawa uttered wide-eyed.

"Woah," Kise whispered.

"That was nothing short of extraordinary, but hey...isn't that a bit too much sweat?" Kasamatsu pointed out.

Seiho's point-guard passed the ball, but it was stolen by Kuroko however, who in turn gave it to Kagami.

Tsugawa stepped up to block Kagami, who went in for a lay-up and managed to draw a shooting foul on Kagami who had just gained his fourth one. Not only that, but he was breathing heavily as he rested on one knee.

Riko shook her head in frustration as she stood up and headed to the scorekeepers. "Excuse me, I'd like to make a member change," she said.

Kagami heard and instantly runs up to his coach. "I'm fine! Look, I'll make sure not to foul anymore, but you have to let me stay in the game!" he begged as he gave her a desperate look.

"No, I'm sorry Kagami-kun, but we can't risk you committing your fifth foul.

"But-!"

"This is perfect timing," Hyuga interjected. "We were planning on subbing you and Kuroko out anyway," he finished as Kagami once again was flabbergasted and helpless.

"Me too?" Kuroko asked, pointing to himself.

"Listen, you can't take me out of the game!" Kagami all but shouted.

Sasuke sighed as he stood up,

"Look, as much as you may not like it, this is something we have decided, and it's for the best."

"But you-"

"Be quiet and follow orders," Sasuke spat venomously with his Sharingan active.

Kagami was left speechless as he stared at Sasuke incredulously.

"Well don't worry and trust in your seniors you damn rookie!" Hyuga stated as he ruffled Kagami's hair who had calmed down some.

Kagami had nodded and returned to the bench as well as Kuroko who smiled at Sasuke who was back to his original position.

All the first years and second years were giving Sasuke nervous looks. "Scary," they all whispered.

Both Tsuchida and Koganei were being subbed in for Kuroko and Kagami.

"Man, it's been a while since I've played in a game," Tsuchida beamed with a smile on his face.

"Let's show them what we can do as well," Koganei said.

"Oh man. I was really hoping for a challenge, and then they go and bench the star players. How boring. Oh well, I'll just make up for it by widening the gap," Tsugawa insulted.

Iwamura leveled Hyuga with his usual aloof yet heated stare. "You're underestimating us for taking those two out you know," he said. "You won't be able to beat Shutoku anyway."

Hyuga turned his head with his hand resting on his hip. "Oh, while we did indeed bench them for that reason, it's more personal than you think," he said with a lazy raise of his hand. "Us second years are here to get revenge for last year. That's all."

Iwamura was slightly taken aback for just a second before returning to his usual bland expression. "I accept your challenge. Bring it on."

It was Seirin's ball.

Hyuga received the ball from Izuki and managed to get past one of the defenders before going in for a lay-up.

He was forced to pass the ball to Mitobe in response to the center's block.

Mitobe dunked the ball in earning them two more points.

"Don't get ahead of yourselves now. We're about to score right back at you!" Kasuga declared as he was about to shoot a three-pointer.

He was suddenly face-to-face with the captain of Seirin who blocked the shot which led to Kuroko's pass to Mitobe.

Iwamura was blocking against a possible lay-up but was surprised when Mitobe entered a different form and executed a hook shot.

He turned to look from the basket to Mitobe while wiping the sweat with his shirt. "You've come up with a new move I see. You have been working hard this past year, huh?"

Mitobe just nodded as the sweat was dripping from his face.

Kasuga smirked right before he dribbled past Izuki, and went in for a lay-up unusually far away from the lay-up range of the basket. This was what is called a "scoop shot."

Once Seirin had the ball again, Izuki was dribbling before holding up his finger. "Let's get one more!" he shouted, holding up his finger.

Riko was breaking down the starting second years of Seirin while they were busy executing their plays.

Izuki's pupils dilated while he used his eagle eye to come up with a smart play that would work well against their opponents.

Finally finding an opening, Izuki goes ahead and passes to Koganei and moves in a specific way.

Grunting, two players from Seiho move in response to the play, but end up running into each other due to the unawareness of each other's positioning.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow slightly at what he witnessed. "That's…"

Play after play, shot after shot, Seirin and Seiho continue to clash, and neither team has given up, nor gotten carried away with their playing.

Eventually, the ball was smacked away and was quickly approaching the out-of-bounds area.

But, with quite the desperation evident on his face, Koganei rushes in to save the ball. While he successfully does so, he ends up not being able to stop himself and completely trips over the Seirin bench.

"Koganei-kun!" Riko shouts. "Are you alright?" she asked nervously.

He wasn't able to respond and just continued to make groaning sounds while unconscious.

"He's definitely got a concussion," Riko stated. "We're gonna have to sub him out."

Kagami jumps up eagerly as his shoes made definite squeaks. "Coach, you have to put me in now! There's no way you'll be able to defeat them as you are!"

"No, we are not putting you in Bakagami!" Riko barked.

"Coach!"

Kuroko plastered his had onto Kagami's cheek in an almost hilarious manner. "The guy with four fouls should just sit down on the bench," Kuroko declared earning a vicious glare from Kagami.

"Kuroko-teme!"

Riko sighed as she crossed her arms. "Sasuke-kun!" Riko bellowed as she turned to Sasuke who in turn unfolded his hands and stood up slowly. "I'm subbing you in for Koganei-kun."

"I understand," Sasuke said as his hands twitched slightly before he inhaled through his nose slowly before exhaling just as slow.

Kagami was about to retort, but one glare from Sasuke was enough to shut him up.

"Seiring, member change!" one of the announcers stated as Sasuke walked up the court.

Both Midorima and Kise were showing interest in their faces as they watched Sasuke stand up and walk.

"He's finally playing," Kise noted as his interest in the game shot through the roof.

Midorima just kept his attention on Sasuke with a glint in his eye. "Let's see what you can do."

Furihata perked up in realization before turning his attention to Kuroko. "Say Kuroko, how is it we were able to notice Sasuke? Before he was just like you, but now it's as if he's just a normal player."

Kuroko just kept his stare on Sasuke's back before blinking a couple of times. "This is just a presumption of mine, but I think Sasuke-kun is actually able to manipulate his presence at will. I've realized that he just naturally is able to misdirect people's attention but what he really utilizes is his ability to manipulate his presence."

Kawahara cocked his head sideways in confusion. "Are you saying you can't do that?"

Kuroko shook his head. "I just don't have much presence, that's all."

"Sasuke-kun, I'm putting you up against Tsugawa alright?" she said as he nodded before walking up to his assigned player.

Tsugawa was too busy looking around trying to find who he was up against when he suddenly got a chill down his spine.

"Yo," Sasuke muttered.

He shrieked as he turned around and noticed a player from Seirin around his height standing in front of him. 'Where the hell did you come from?"

Sasuke responded with silence as he could feel the excitement of crushing an opponent rushing throughout his body.

With the blow of the whistle, it was now Seirin's ball, and Hyuga was busy trying to find an opening once again when he noticed Sasuke lose his man and immediately threw him the ball.

Seeing Mitobe open, Sasuke tapped the ball in his direction which gave him the opportunity to lay the ball up.

The audience, as usual, cheered and was going crazy about the curving pass, but only two players were taken entirely by surprise.

Kise rose up from his seat. "But, that's…"

Midorima pushed his glasses up. "To think he has the same playstyle as Kuroko. Interesting."

"Alright! Let's keep it up!" Hyuga shouted, clenching his fist victoriously.

It was now Seiho's ball, and they were at a loss for words. "There's another player who can do what number eleven does?" Sakamoto asked incredulously.

He passed the ball to Kasuga who had a frustrated expression on his face. "Don't let it get to you!" he shouted.

Once he passed the center line, he couldn't feel the ball in his hands as Sasuke had utterly ripped it out.

He smirked as he picked up the ball and started dribbling towards the hoop. _'I don't even need to use my eyes to steal the ball. He was practically letting me take it_!'

Sasuke was making his way down the court when every player noticed something very wrong.

"How is he all the way down there already?" they all shouted internally.

"Who is he?" Kasamatsu probed as narrowed his eyes.

Kise chuckled drawing his captain's eyes. "He's the guy who completely kicked my ass one-on-one. But to think he was hiding this all along…"

"Wait, are you saying he's on the same level as the Generation of Miracles?"

Kise shook his head. "If anything, he's at least as skilled as the former captain of the Generation of Miracles."

Kasamatsu's eyes widened. "He's that good?"

Kise nodded. "I wonder how Midorima will do against him?"

Sasuke jumped and laid the ball up.

"No way…" Tsugawa whispered in slight awe.

It was Seiho's ball once again, and now they were more cautious than ever of Sasuke stealing the ball.

Once they felt as if they could make a pass Seiho did and were pleased to see that they were not getting stolen.

Sasuke was keeping track, purposefully letting them think they were in the clear.

Once Kasuga received the ball once again, he went to take a shot not wanting to risk getting the ball stolen, but was not prepared to be blocked by Hyuga who threw the ball down to Sasuke who was making his way down when Iwamura stepped in front of him. "You're not going anywhere."

Sasuke sighed before he activated his Sharingan and did a crossover before crossing the ball under his legs and effectively breaking Iwamura's ankles leaving him baffled as he fell on the floor while Sasuke set up for a shot and released the ball earning Seirin two more points.

Midorima's eyes widened. "It can't be. Is this…?"

Kise released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Looks like he's finally used it again," Kise noted.

Kasamatsu looked confused as fuck.

"Uh...I thought he wasn't going to use it?" Izuki questioned Hyuga who shook his head.

"Well, so did the rest of us," Hyuga noted before he felt something was off with Sasuke who was clutching his head.

Sasuke was grunting as he was struggling to keep his head together.

When he opened his eyes, his left eye was flickering from red to purple with ripples going through.

' _ **Let...me...out**_!' Yami Sasuke snarled.

' _Stay the fuck out of this. You're an eyesore, and you'll only make things worse in the future_!'

Sasuke's eye was flickering before he managed to regain complete control, but his breathing had gotten out of control.

"Sasuke, you alright?" Izuki asked.

Sasuke nodded before returning to his position on defense.

Seiho was back on offense, and before the could even try to shoot, the ball was stolen from them once again, but this time from Izuki.

"Habits?" Kise asked.

"Yes, while Seiho is definitely a team of experts, they will always have developed habits that show in their play."

Riko put her hand under her chin. "For example, when someone runs they shift their whole body in the general direction they're are going in. However, they are trained to only point their toes in that direction instead of their entire body."

"Oh, I get it! So by paying attention to that small detail, those guys are able to counter their offense," Kagami exclaimed.

"Exactly, and for the record, it was Sasuke who revealed all of this to me while we were on the bench."

"Awesome," Kawahara said.

Sasuke assisted with another pass allowing Seirin to score even more.

Kagami was in awe watching Sasuke's passes. "Amazing. Kuroko, I never really got to see you guys in action from the bench."

Kuroko nodded as he continued to watch Sasuke. "Hai."

Iwamura was busy contemplating his options before he gained a fierce look on his face. "Kasuga, pass me the ball!" he ordered.

"But-"

"Just do it!"

Complying, Kasuga gave Iwamura the ball who charged in and weaved in and out of the defense before jumping and dunking the ball. "It's a hundred years too early for you to be challenging us!" he bellowed.

Now that Seirin was on offense, Seiho was playing aggressive man-to-man defense.

Seirin was tied with Seiho at this point in time, and they were trying their best to put as much pressure as they could.

"Izuki," Sasuke shouted as Izuki cast him a glance before smiling and passing him the ball.

"No, you don't!" Tsugawa shouted.

Sasuke bounced the ball in between Tsugawa's legs and dribbled past him before he was met with the everyone rushing in to block him.

He smirked before Izuki yelled "hey" to him and looked in his general direction.

Everyone turned their attention to him, but Sasuke faked and without even looking passed it to Hyuuga who shot a three wide-open and scored with a three-point lead to end the game 94-91.

Everyone shouted as they all crowded around one another to celebrate their victory. "We did it!"

"Not bad," Kise stated.

Sasuke smirked as he high-fived Kagami and Kuroko.

Once everyone lined up and thanked each other for a good game, Seirin and Shutoku were all returning to their locker rooms to get ready for the next upcoming game of the Inter-High tournament.

Midorima stood up and stared at Sasuke who gave stared right back at him.

Without even having said a single word to each other, they both couldn't help the urge to go up against one another that was welling up inside them.

 **Chapter end**


End file.
